Angry League of Legends fans report that they cannot purchase 2018 World Championship ticket because bots are buying them up in seconds.
Bots take all Championship tickets
Riot has got another fine mess on their hands. Tickets for the 2018 World Championship event are going on sale online but fans can’t buy them. Rather bots are taking up all of them in a matter of seconds. Reddit users report that the tickets sold out mere seconds after becoming available. What’s worse is that whoever is buying up the tickets is reselling them at vastly inflated prices, with the cheapest tickets going for around €500, whereas they would normally cost €30 or so. The more premium seats are being sold for €800 or more.
The problem stems partly from the fact that one can purchase tickets without the need to submit any detailed information. This way automated bots are able to scrounge them up in a few seconds. Riot has tried to release tickets in increments but it is no help against the bots.
While it is not unheard of for popular video game events to sell out in a few minutes – BlizzCon is notorious for this – this far exceeds anything that has happened before. Moreover, there seems to be no end in sight and fans are not happy.
Community response is not pretty
Hundreds of infuriated LoL fans took to forums to vent their frustration. Reddit user TestRoyale who started the thread on Reddit states:
Feels good man, glad Riot left it so late I had to book flights and hotels before tickets 🙂
Not mad, just disappointed.
Edit: Tickets are now being relisted on “other sites” for about $550 each, lol…
Edit 2: This is getting beyond a joke now, 4 new waves opened and have INSTANTLY been brought by bots, that’s 1,190 tickets. The page went from Orange full of seats to error and all white.
Edit 3: Please don’t turn this into a Riot Hate thread guys, logistics and communication aside these events ALWAYS quality and fun to attend.
More than a dozen fans write that they have already secured transport and accommodation prior to the tickets being made ‘available’ for purchase. While booking hotels and plane tickets might be called a bit hasty, one also has to take into account that Riot had a problem with securing a venue for the event. As such, fans had to make preparations before it was too late. The World Championship will be held in South Korea and will run for a whole month.
As of this writing, Riot has not made an official statement regarding the problem.
