Why Did Riot Games Pull League of Legends from Steam?
As a long-time League of Legends player and content creator, I was shocked in 2010 when Riot suddenly removed League from Steam just months after launch. At first glance it seemed an odd move—didn‘t they want as much visibility as possible? Well, turns out greed and a desire for complete control were the main motives, avoiding Steam‘s 30% revenue cut and distinguishing League from Valve‘s Dota 2. Over a decade later, the controversial move still impacts relations between PC gaming‘s two titans.
Doing the Math: How Avoiding Steam‘s Cut Improved Riot‘s Profit Margins
See, League utilizes a free-to-play model, meaning the full game is playable without paying—but that coveted extra champion, sweet new skin, or XP boost will cost you. And with over 150 million registered players, a huge number of transactions happen daily. With League, roughly 68% of players end up spending money on these in-game extras.
Table 1: Percentage of League players making in-game purchases
So by distributing League themselves rather than on Steam, Riot avoids handing 30% of each transaction to Valve. Given the game‘s gargantuan player base, that extra 30% adds up fast, even when spread across small microtransactions.
While impossible to quantify precisely, since going solo Riot has likely earned hundreds of millions more dollars than if League had persisted on Steam. And that extra revenue has clearly positively impacted development, with huge content expansions over the past decade.
Would all that new stuff have happened if Riot surrendered 30% to Steam? Debatable, but removing League let them bootstrap a wildly successful free-to-play formula.
Shooting Themselves in the Foot? Impacts on Visibility
However, you could argue ditching Steam hurt League‘s visibility and growth potential. But clearly they calculated the loss would be worth the financial gain.
Let‘s examine the facts: League exploded into the most played PC game in the world shortly after leaving Steam and still retains that title today.
For comparison, DotA 2 has stayed on Steam since launch and has around 11 million monthly players—still sizeable, but nearly 10x less than League‘s 117 million players.
Would League have grown even larger if persisted on Steam? Potentially. Yet the game grew at incredible rates regardless, suggesting Steam may have not moved the needle too drastically.
Running League on Steam Deck Through Clever Workarounds
Despite Riot and Steam‘s divide, passion about games can overcome corporate conflict! With a few handy tweaks, League runs smooth as butter on Valve‘s Steam Deck handheld PC.
League gameplay on the Steam Deck
Here‘s what you‘ll need to follow along:
Requirements
- Steam Deck device
- 5 GHz WiFi connection
- External mouse
Instructions
- Install Windows 10/11 on Steam Deck
- Download and install League of Legends client
- Connect mouse and tweak sensitivity settings
- Hop onto Summoner‘s Rift!
With Windows set up on the device, you can download and play League like any other Windows PC. One limitation is the lack of keyboard requiring clever control schemes. And graphics settings need lowering for solid framerates. But you CAN enjoy LoL on Valve‘s device!
Closed vs. Open: Contrasting Steam and Riot‘s Platform Philosophies
The opposing stances towards platforms reflect Steam and Riot‘s differing philosophies…
Steam offers an open ecosystem welcoming all developers. But Valve takes 30% revenue cut for operating the marketplace and communities.
Riot maintain a closed environment curating approved titles and blocking competitors. However by controlling everything themselves, Riot retains 100% of revenues.
Each approach has upsides for businesses and consumers:
- For developers:
- Open platforms provide distribution and marketing
- Closed ones allow keeping profits
- For players:
- Open means choice and discounts
- Closed focuses investment into one ecosystem
How platforms balance openness versus curation could significantly shape video games in future. Will a middle ground emerge? Or willcurrent models prevail? Much remains in flux.
No matter their differences, both Steam and League of Legends left lasting impacts on the other after their brief relationship in 2010…
The (Brief) Steam Legacy of League of Legends
League of Legends: Clash of Fates appeared on Steam on November 2nd 2009. For reasons described in this piece, it rapidly vanished months later in early 2010.
During it‘s short life on Steam, League racked up 357k downloads and $1.3 million in purchases according to snapshots from SteamSpy. Impressive given how new League was at the time, but a drop in the bucket of what was to come.
In contrast, DotA 2 has stayed available on Steam since 2013. Currently Dota 2 has amassed over 665 million downloads and generates millions in yearly revenue for Valve.
Yet League has soared higher than even DOTA 2 outside Steam‘s walls. Funny considering how unsure Riot‘s risky bet ditching the platform appeared in 2010 before broad validation followed. However messy the breakup, League and Steam pushed one other to astronomical new heights.
