2023 had lots of brand-new skins in League of Legends. Some of those skins weren't as well received, though. But with numbers of the top 100 most sold skins in China getting released, western LoL fans are baffled.
Skins are an important part of League of Legends, with the sales of these cosmetic being a huge part of Riot's business model. It's also a well-known fact that the Chinese server is one of the ones with the highest spending, which is why we receive a lot of skins geared towards the Asian market.
In 2023 Riot released a multitude of skins once more and while some were very well received, other skins garnered a lot of negative attention as well by the community on Reddit and Twitter. Well, it seems that some of the most hated skins are actually the biggest sellers of the year.
League of Legends: Tencent Unveils Top Selling Skins Of 2023
Unfortunately, the numbers of for skin sales for international fans is still a mystery, but a while back Tencent revealed the top sales numbers of skins in 2023 on the Chinese League of Legends server. Some of the skins in the top 10 could surprise most international League of Legends fans, especially with the uproar some of the skins caused on social media.
In seventh place on the list is Redeemed Star Guardian Rakan, one of the skins that was ported over from Wild Rift into the PC version of the game. His counterpart, Redeemed Star Guardian Xayah is also in the top 10, making it to fourth place.
The skins that garnered the most outrage on socials in 2023 were the ones that sold the most in China: SF Samira, Redeemed SG Xayah and Rakan by u/bingbongzingzongz in leagueoflegends
At the time of release, there was a huge fuss on social media, with players saying they would boycott the skins and the champions, because of missing assets and recalls, which had been available on Wild Rift, but were removed for the PC version.
Another skin that received more hate than love was Soul Fighter Samira. Not because it was a bad skin, but due to the price. Most fans on Reddit and Twitter felt that the skin was not worth the 3250 RP cost of an Ultimate skin and felt that she should have cost, at most, 2775 RP, like Gun Goddess Miss Fortune.
The most sold skin in 2023 on the Chinese server was none other than Mythmaker Irelia, her first legendary skin, which a lot of players also had complaints about, with the animations feeling off compared to all her other skins and her base model.
So, it seems like a huge part of the player base does not actually listen to Reddit or Twitter and their complaints, but will just buy skins based on their preferences. If a skin looks cool, they will buy it, without looking whether certain animations have been re-used. Honestly, good on them to just enjoy the game and cosmetics they like.