Tensions are escalating between Riot Games Korea and PC bang owners. Riot has warned that starting on the 21st it will restrict access to League of Legends and VALORANT at locations that canceled its paid affiliate service, the "premium PC bang service."
Owners are pushing back, saying, "It is unfair to block access to a game that anyone can enjoy for free simply because we did not sign up for a paid service that offers virtually no benefits." Riot, on the other hand, said, "Providing games in PC bangs constitutes commercial use, and the premium PC bang service is a license to offer the game commercially on the premises."
According to the gaming industry on the 19th, the Korea Internet PC Cafe Cooperative, composed of PC bang owners, filed for an injunction the previous day at the Seoul Central District Court to prohibit interference by Riot. After Riot announced it would restrict access to its games from the 21st at locations where the premium PC bang service has been deactivated, the group asked the court to halt the measure.
Major game companies sign separate paid partnership agreements with PC bang owners. When users access a game at a PC bang, the company either provides paid games for free or offers more benefits than when playing at home, even for free games. Since 2011, Riot has operated the premium PC bang service and provided League of Legends users with benefits such as access to all characters (champions) and outfits (skins). Owners have maintained the service despite the additional expense, judging that these benefits help attract customers.
The dispute began in Nov. last year when Riot notified owners it would raise the premium PC bang service fee by about 15%. With service fees paid to Riot reaching 1.5 million to 2 million won per month per location, some owners objected to the hike, and about 500 locations—roughly 10% of all PC bangs—are said to have deactivated the service during the process.
What owners oppose most is the plan to block game access entirely just because they canceled the premium service. They argue that League of Legends and VALORANT are free games, and it is unfair to block access unless they pay separate fees solely because the games are provided in a PC bang. According to GameTrics, a PC bang game statistics service, as of today the two games account for about 43% of domestic PC bang share. Owners say that if they cannot offer the two games, nearly half of their sales could drop, effectively forcing them to subscribe to the premium PC bang service.
Owners also argue that despite the price increase, the benefits that can be felt in attracting customers have decreased significantly compared with before. In the early days of the League of Legends service, the ability to use all champions for free was considered a strong benefit. But 16 years after launch, most users already own major champions, and the skins provided are said to have little effect in drawing customers. In particular, compared with cases that offer user-facing benefits like reduced in-game fees, such as Nexon's "FC Online," Riot's service is seen as lacking tangible impact.
Namgoong Younghong, chair of the Korea Internet PC Cafe Cooperative, said, "There was backlash because they raised fees without strengthening the service, and some owners voluntarily chose to deactivate," adding, "In this situation, Riot is basically saying it will cut off the games unless we pay."
Riot countered that the premium PC bang service is not merely a product offering add-on perks like skins or experience points. It said the service functions as a license fee necessary for PC bang operators to provide its games commercially on the premises. It further explained that even if a game is free for individual users, a PC bang providing it to customers for profit constitutes a separate commercial use.
A Riot official said, "We have continued to invest in servers, network infrastructure, security, operational support, and labor costs to provide PC bang services, and we have expanded the service scope from a League of Legends focus to VALORANT, TFT, and 2XKO," adding, "We operate our PC bang services after comprehensively considering this infrastructure investment and the expansion of our game lineup."
Meanwhile, the PC bang industry sees this issue as a matter of survival. According to the National Tax Service, the number of PC bangs nationwide fell 32%, from 9,886 in Mar. 2021 to 6,695 in Mar. this year. Owners worry that, in a shrinking market, further restricting access to high-share games could increase operating burdens.
Owners' backlash is growing further because a significant portion of Riot's domestic revenue is said to be transferred to its U.S. headquarters. Riot Games Korea paid 133.1 billion won in royalties to the headquarters in 2025 for the use of game intellectual property (IP). The royalty amounts rose annually—92.7 billion won in 2022, 119.5 billion won in 2023, and 122.0 billion won in 2024. Separately, in 2025 it paid 100.3 billion won for IT services and other fees, and 62.0 billion won in dividends to the headquarters. In total, remittances to the headquarters last year alone reached 295.4 billion won.