CuVee says Riot Games has not paid World Champions skin sales

Former Gen.G top laner Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin revealed on stream that the 2017 World Champions are yet to get their cut for the skin sales.

CuVee and Samsung Galaxy were all the rage in 2017 when the team took down SK Telecom T1. As part of the prize, the team received an exclusive skin line to commemorate their victory. It’d be the second skin line for Samsung, and this time it featured Taliyah, Jarvan IV, Ezreal, Gnar, Xayah, and Rakan. Each skin sold for 1,350 RP, roughly $9 USD. Players are supposed to receive 25% of the revenue, so they’d make around USD $2.25 per skin sold. The skins are available for a limited time only.

According to the top laner, former team members that transferred to the LCS, Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in and Lee “Crown” Min-ho, did get paid. But CuVee, ADC Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk, and retired jungler Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong are yet to receive their cut. It’s been almost three years since Samsung Galaxy raised the Summoner’s Cup at the Beijing National Stadium, making it a very long time for the trio to go unpaid.

How much money does a LoL World Champion earn?

Riot Games recently announced a new distribution for the prize pool, the winner of the event will get 25% of the money. This is a change from the previous distribution where the winner received 37% of the prize pool. In 2019, the prize pool had a minimum guaranteed of USD $2.2 million. As the champion, FunPlus Phoenix received USD $834,375, plus the revenue from associated skin sales.

The reason for the change in the prize distribution is the skin sales. According to Riot, players make a decent amount of money on skin sales, so it makes sense to reduce the prize. The issue starts once players don’t get paid their cut of the sales, especially if only part of the team is getting paid. Riot is yet to issue a response to the situation.