Riot Games Hits Win-Trading in League of Legends: Wild Rift

League of Legends: Wild Rift is enjoying growing interest, and as it does, cheaters have cottoned on, trying to boost their rankings and scoop a few prizes prematurely.

Riot Games Addresses Win-Trading on the Spot 

Riot Games is taking aim at cheaters in the newly-minted League of Legends: Wild Rift, the mobile alter ego of the popular MOBA franchise. Wild Rift is still undergoing a beta test, but already some nefarious characters are rearing their head and giving the game a try, and not completely legitimately at that.

“Boosters” are thronging the platform, trying to artificially inflate their rankings and access higher tiers within the game’s ecosystem without putting in the time. Riot Games, though, has had numerous games to cut its teeth on.

From League of Legends to last year’s fantasy shooter VALORANT, Riot Games’ expertise in spotting and identifying underhand practices has been honed to perfection, enough to produce a swift response to any attempt to sully the game’s reputation.

While mobile games such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Call of Duty: Mobile have suffered their small epidemic of cheaters, Riot Games is firmly on top and separating the bad apples from the basket. 

Boosters are using “win-trading,” a technique whereby a number of players agree to lose to other players to boost their rankings quickly. Naturally, not having to deal with any pushback guarantees a swift quick game that concludes in ten minutes instead of the drawn-out 30-40 minutes regular games.

Play by the Rules or Not Play at All 

Riot is not mincing its words when it comes to cheating. If you cheat, you will get permanently ban, an official blog post penned by Ben Forbes, Riot Games Wild Rift communication lead, revealed. This measure will only apply to the most active accounts.

For those who have been just caught in the fad, Riot plans to only suspend their accounts for seven days and deprive them of their Season One rewards as a quick lesson in fairness. However, if a person is caught win-trading after their first ban, they will end up in a pickle because Riot will slam them with that ban hammer once again, and this time for good.

Riot, though experienced as it is, acknowledges that it’s far from achieving a perfect anti-cheating system. It has been working arduously on one for both League of Legends and VALORANT, but there are still some chinks in the armor that show weakness. 

On the flipside, Riot is pretty excited about Wild Rift’s potential. Ever since Honor of King and Mobile Legend: Bang Bang was released in China, and on Asian markets in general, competitive mobile gaming has been shaping up nicely.

Just like with VALORANT, Riot is hoping to see a competitive scene develop around its latest game, and organically at that. Forbes went on to say that game integrity is naturally one of the biggest focuses for Wild Rift in 2021.

After all, nobody wants to have the same legacy as the other games mentioned previously, which have been pestered by quite a few integrity hiccups. Forbes went on to add:

“Win-trading is just one piece of that puzzle, so we are going to keep leveling our approaches to game balance, cheating, disruptive behavior, and in-game stability to ensure you can focus your time and energy on the climb.”

We are all excited about Wild Rift and how far the game’s competitive reach can actually extend. All the initial signs are promising.