Riot Games has recently announced that it will be deleting accounts that have been detected to be inactive for years. Users who have not logged in for more than 3 years may experience their accounts being completely wiped from the systems. They will start to delete Riot Games accounts in the following months and start removing information from their servers permanently for a variety of reasons involving safety and security.
Announcement to Delete Riot Games Accounts
Riot Games recently posted on their website that they will be removing any inactive Riot Games account from their servers to protect people preserve their personal information. The Riot Games server has millions of players registered with their personal information, whether they’re real or fake, saved on the company’s database. This poses a lot of problems since there is no guarantee that they are able to protect every single one of them from getting exposed.
The announcement involving how they will delete Riot Games accounts came this August 2022, giving players a heads-up to make any preparations in case they don’t want to have their accounts removed from the database. Once a Riot Games account has been removed, they will no longer be able to log into the client to play League of Legends, VALORANT, Teamfight Tactics, or Legends of Runeterra.
Which Accounts Will Be Deleted From the Server?
Not all inactive accounts will be deleted since Riot Games has given us a list of criteria to be met for an account to be removed. While these criteria might not look like they’re going to hit a lot of accounts, the truth is that the Riot Games server has become a dump for inactive accounts that are no longer playing the game. Here is what Riot Games shared on their article on which accounts are to be removed moving forward:
- Inactive Accounts that have not been logged onto any Riot Games web properties, games, or applications for the past THREE years.
- Accounts that have not purchased in-game currency (such as RP for LoL or Radianite for VALORANT) in its lifetime.
- Accounts that did not RECEIVE any in-game currency in its lifetime.
- Accounts with less than 20 hours of play time.
- Accounts that have not received any limited edition items or resources.
As you can see, the criteria for account removal is very strict and most of you may probably realize that you’re not affected at all. However, you may have some friends or acquaintances that are planning to get back into some of Riot Games’ titles but have been busy at something for the past three years. It may be a good idea to give them a heads-up to give them a chance to save their accounts.
How Will I Know If My Account is Getting Removed?
If you’re unsure if the company will delete Riot Games accounts that you own based on the criteria mentioned above, don’t worry because the company will be sending you an email that notifies whether or not your account will be removed in the future. Just make sure you know what email you used to create your Riot Games account. This may be a good time to check your inbox to see any emails that Riot Games has sent you.
Users who didn’t verify their accounts using an email, used fake credentials, or used an old email they no longer have access to may want to contact the Riot Games Support as soon as possible. Riot Games will have no need to contact you otherwise since those who have logged onto the game will have their timer reset and their inactive status removed. It might prove to be a good idea to do this even if you have no plans of playing any of their games in the immediate future.
Why Are Riot Games Removing Accounts?
Riot Games stated that they’re removing accounts to help its users preserve the integrity of their personal information by removing inactive users from the database so that they’re information can’t get stolen. While Riot Games has an iron-clad online security system protecting all of its users accounts, they are still concerned that having too many information on their database might cause unforeseen issues in the future.
Speculations also think that Riot Games’ database is getting too crowded and they are making space for new users to create accounts. While individual accounts don’t necessarily take too much space in terms of data, having millions of accounts with match logs, highlights, and various types of data stored can take a ridiculous amount of data that consumes a huge amount of non-renewable energy from the planet.
Will There Be a Way to Recover Your Riot Games Account
Once Riot Games deletes your account, we suspect that there is no way to recover it from the database. Otherwise, there would be no point to deleting accounts if you’re planning to create a backup or having it recoverable since that wouldn’t solve any of the problems that they’re trying to fix. This means that you won’t be able to reclaim your deleted account no matter how loudly you shout at the customer service representative, so be sure to prevent your account from getting taken down as soon as possible.
If you read this article late and already have your account deleted but want to recover it anyway, you may want to think about creating a new one instead. Once they delete Riot Games accounts, even if it’s by mistake, there will be no way of getting it back. We suspect that there may be a grace period of at least 14 days upon deletion where the account will be able to be backed up but once that timer expires, you’ll have no chance to get it back.
