Riot Games decided to raise PC cafe service fees by 15% starting on the 3rd of this month and reaffirmed its existing policy that participation in a boycott "could be grounds for terminating affiliation," expanding operating risk across the Korean market. As talk surfaced of a price hike without consultation, a forced switch in payment methods, and potential access restrictions for some stores, the PC cafe industry began proceedings to file a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission.
The Korean market is strategically significant for Riot Games. "League of Legends (LoL)" and "Valorant" both achieved mass popularity based on PC cafes, and centered on the LCK (LoL's Korean league), Korea has served as a key hub of the global esports ecosystem. But as teens shift to mobile games and those in their 20s and 30s move to consoles and high-end personal PCs, reliance on PC cafes is declining, and there are concerns that Riot Games' foundation itself could be shaken by conflict with the industry.
Riot Games recently notified the Korea Internet PC Cafe Cooperative (KIPC) that it will raise PC cafe premium service fees by about 15%. The change will apply equally to both LoL and Valorant from the 3rd of this month, with the 300-hour package rising from 69,900 won to 80,600 won (15.4%), and the 700-hour package rising from 159,600 won to 184,000 won. Riot cited "increases in server and infrastructure operating expense," but the industry is pushing back, saying it "raised only the cost without improving benefits." The sale of similar perks through external channels such as PC Game Pass and Naver Plus is also fueling controversy.
The burden on the PC cafe industry is also growing. The industry estimates additional expenditure of 300,000 to 350,000 won per store per month. The number of PC cafes in Korea fell nearly 40%, from 11,801 in 2019 to 7,243 in 2024, and some view the number of actually operating locations as below 6,500. In a sluggish business environment, Riot's fee hike is seen as placing a heavy burden on an industry that is structurally vulnerable.
The boycott is also spreading. Riot Games' policy is that participation in the boycott "could be grounds for terminating affiliation," while the cooperative has labeled this "pressure from a monopoly corporations" and plans to respond by filing with the Fair Trade Commission and through the National Assembly. The industry notes that PC cafes are a key channel for new user inflow, word-of-mouth growth, and friend-group play, and believes the dispute could directly harm the domestic user base.
Experts say Riot Games' move was hasty given the structure of the Korean game market. Choi Eun-kyung, a professor at Hanshin University's Graduate School of Esports Convergence, said, "Riot Games' 15% hike appears to have been carried out without a full understanding of Korea's PC cafe fee structure and regulatory environment," adding, "Unlike overseas, where there are no PC cafes, Korea has an ecosystem with strong offline touchpoints and loyal users, and overlooking this can make owners feel it is unfair."
According to Gametrics, LoL's share of Korean PC cafes once stood in the 40% to 50% range but has recently fallen to the mid-30% range. Valorant likewise approached a 10% share last year but has now fallen to the 5% range. LoL's global monthly active users (MAU) also declined from about 180 million in 2022 to the 120 million range this year, confirming a slowdown in growth.
Operational and management risks are also piling up. LoL has faced ongoing controversies over matchmaking (MMR) fairness, trolling, abusive language, and smurfing, and this year it was revealed that a bug causing champion damage to be calculated differently depending on side had been left unaddressed for about 11 years, dealing a blow to credibility. Valorant has also continued to face fairness controversies, alongside issues with cheating and smurfing, following the emergence of a competitor (CS2).
Risk factors are increasing on the management structure front as well. Riot Games cut about 11% (530 people) of its total workforce last year and halted "Riot Forge," an external collaboration project. In June this year, it even wound down the long-in-development sandbox game "Hytale," sharply scaling back new projects. The industry says, "It is a strategy to focus on core projects, but a weakening of new growth drivers is inevitable."
Professor Choi said, "LoL is a title with a very high dependence on Korean player depth and the esports ecosystem, and if Riot pressures distribution partners or shifts the expense burden, the market base could be shaken," adding, "Korean users provide feedback quickly and churn quickly, so if the environment wobbles, highly loyal users can slip away easily."