World Cup 2024 news and Road to London coverage sponsored by AOC’s AGON
In a significant move affecting eager fans, Riot Games has announced the postponement of ticket sales for the 2024 League of Legends World Finals due to rampant bot activity and ticket scalping that emerged over the past 48 hours. This decision comes as fans have been anxiously participating in a seemingly futile lottery to secure their spots for the highly anticipated final, set to take place at London’s iconic O2 Arena on November 2, 2024.
Riot addressed the situation directly, stating, “After discovering significant bot activity impacting our pre-sales over the past 48 hours, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily postpone the latest round of ticket sales for the World Final. We are working to resolve the issue and will update you as soon as possible. We’re also identifying tickets purchased by bots so we can get them back into the hands of real fans. Fans who have already legitimately purchased tickets for the World Cup final are not affected. However, if you believe your purchase has been affected, please contact AXS customer service so they can help you resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience as we work through this matter – our goal is to ensure a fair and smooth ticketing process for everyone.”
The postponement arrives on the heels of the first wave of tickets released in August, during which some opportunistic resellers listed tickets for over £2,000, while many dedicated fans were wrongfully flagged as bots. Frustration began to bubble over on social media as fans expressed their disappointment; some celebrated Riot’s decision to take action, while others lambasted their delayed response.
One user, Hancock, remarked, “It’s absolutely criminal, you guys have only noticed it now, when the last round of tickets two months ago were all sold within five minutes of opening.” Another fan, HappyChimeNoises, echoed this sentiment, urging Riot to require a verified League of Legends account of level 30 to secure a ticket. “After discovering significant bot activity impacting our pre-sales over the past 48 hours, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily postpone the final round of ticket sales for the World Final,” Riot reiterated.
YetAnotherScrub decried, “Previous sales disappeared within two minutes, tickets appeared on resale sites at 5x the retail price the same day… The problem was that the link to the queue could be shared with anyone once time you were in line. Thanks for looking into this. I just really want these scalpers to lose.” Meanwhile, Jarathel questioned, “Will you investigate for the first sales? Because many of us waited in line for hours while all the tickets were sold in seconds.” Charlotte Buchan suggested, “Go on Viagogo and look at the seats that have been taken by bots, and when people buy tickets, just take some ID or bring the card used to buy the tickets, a simple solution to stop the scammers!”
I’m personally thrilled to see League of Legends Esports taking this matter seriously. It was bad enough with the first wave of tickets, but this time it has become much worse due to bot activity, leaving many fans, including myself and those around me, incredibly disheartened. Thank you for working to resolve this issue https://t.co/9YLsZVJrk9— Sammi Dodger🔜MCM London (@DodgerM101) October 4, 2024
Require a level 30 verified account for each ticket. It’s that simple— HappyChimeNoises (@HappyChimeNoise) October 4, 2024
I’ve never seen Riot publicly comment on cards like this. Thank you, Riot, for acknowledging this—the queues are so bad that they pause and load 2-3 hours later saying the link is down or exhausted. You can’t even see the venue seats https://t.co/eUwQgUSO9r— angie 💫 (@numiii) October 4, 2024
I find it absurd that it’s easier to get tickets for Taylor Swift than for the League of Legends World Finals…#Worlds2024— Naomi Ellett (@llamasaurs) October 2, 2024
A timeline of ticket sales for the 2024 World Cup final:
In August, Riot Games released the ticket guide for the 2024 World Championship Grand Finals in London. A new format was introduced featuring two waves of ticket sales — the first reserved for exclusive partners and followed by a general sale. This method was hoped to create more opportunities for fans to score the coveted tickets.
However, as the first wave of tickets went live, many fans were left disheartened after waiting hours in a digital queue only to miss out entirely. Riot’s silence on the matter left many asking for accountability. The second wave was released this week, leaving fans once again at the mercy of a chaotic ticketing process that led to frustration, with many finding themselves stuck in a paused queue only to be booted out hours later. Social media served as a platform for individuals to voice their anger and seek solutions to the chaos.
As if the situation wasn’t heated enough, a loophole was discovered on the ticketing site, allowing bots to skate through the queue while genuine fans were left in the lurch. And with only nine hours before general ticket sales, around 1 am BST, Riot Games made the crucial call to postpone the general ticket sales for the 2024 World Cup final.
