Riot Games Donate April Fools Money to Help Manatees

Last April 1st, whilst some of us were suing Evony, The League of Legends community was mourning the loss of Urf the Manatee. In memory of the fair creature the League of Legends shop started selling in-game Urf the Manatee skins to “ensure that your Blood Hunter appears completely inconspicuous”. In a press release issued today, Riot Games, makers of LoL, have announced they’re donating the revenues made from the sales to the Save the Manatees Club.

I’ve started to see a rather annoying trend from April first “pranks”; companies have started doing something that makes them money. It’s becoming more and more common and, at least in my opinion, misses the point of what April 1st on the internet is all about. Which is why it’s nice to see a company, like Riot Games, giving away over $5,000 in Fools Day revenue.

According to the press release, the money came from the sale of “more than 15,000 units on April 1 alone”. Apparently the loss of Urf struck such a cord that as well as these sales the community created “more than 74 videos, 398 poems, 130 pieces of artwork and more than 150 other forms of content”.