Article by Serenety Graphics by Kesicha Calumpiano
December 13, 2022
After twelve years, League of Legends finally removed its game and partnership with Garena, the dominant Game-Hub for many popular online games in Southeast Asia. Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and many more countries are now celebrating their freedom from the firm grip and clutches of disturbing practices and exploits Garena has done to these countries. But why is escaping the tight grip of Garena so significant for these players in League of Legends? Well, the experience of being under its rule was not for the faint of hearts.
To begin picturing how horrible the conditions of Garena were to the game, it had its system and client that created diverse yet biased (sometimes in an extreme manner) pricing systems and money to in-game conversions. It was no surprise to anyone that currency will be a different case from country to country, but in the case of Garena, prices can still differ despite having a set standard for other servers on what kind of skin it is. It goes even far to overpricing some skins more than the expected price because of how popular a skin will be as some are sold for significantly less and labeled as ‘discounted’. Topping it off, some terrible events ran amok on these Garena servers, including web events with tons of false advertising and bait-and-switch rewards. One of the most notorious and egregious was those that gave away a skin (In-game cosmetics) for a discounted price, but in reality, it was just an icon for your account (a different kind of cosmetic). SEA Players have breathed their first sigh of relief for years and couldn’t help but wait for more good news.
Following the previous topic, League of Legends will also place game rewards upon migrating accounts from Garena to their global client. This means SEA servers could finally join the other servers in riot-held events globally and be eligible to compete on the ladder with said servers. Access to the global client, among other things that it didn’t once have will be another thing SEA players will enjoy, as they have long since waited to get the same perks the global servers have. Features such as Clash, for example, will now become a reality for those dying to try it. Due to massive player influx issues from the past, the competitive arena is finally open for these SEA players. Now with a centralized client, issues will not feel as separate and isolated from the rest of the world for the SEA players, and their hopes for the game will grow slightly more fun until the game evolves in the next few years.
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