For slightly over a decade now, League of Legends (LoL) has had the largest and most successful competitive scene in international esports. It has been the stage for many popular teams to get the brands they are representing recognised and even have a chance to be icons themselves.
But LoL seems to be on thin ice now, as there might not be one this season, at least for those in North America. From messy planning to massive team walk outs leading up to this point – here’s what you need to know about the chaos that is sweeping this titan in competitive gaming.
— LCS Players Association (@NALCSPA) May 29, 2023
Before a team can enter the global stage, they must prove themselves to be the best of the best in their respective regions. Each region has its own organisation that is in charge of managing and training aspiring teams, and for North America and Canada, they have the League Championship Series, more commonly referred to as the LCS. A gross oversimplification for the sake of brevity would be that eight teams must participate in the spring and summer playoffs to filter out who is the best, and the top three teams that win after the summer playoffs get to go to the global stage.
Now, the LCS teams have requested to change things around by eliminating the requirement of fielding NACL (North American Challengers League) teams in hopes of better streamlining the process. Riot Games complied with their request, but due to their hasty decision-making and lack of proper planning or prior notice, at least 70 people — players, coaches, etc. — will lose their jobs. The LCS has since proposed an alternative plan, but it fell on deaf ears. Riot shot back, saying that the cuts were necessary to ensure that the North American leagues remain “sustainable [and] economically viable.”
— LCS Players Association (@NALCSPA) May 29, 2023
What followed was a back and forth with no end in sight. Due to Riot refusing to compromise with their players, the LCSPA (League Championship Series Players Association) called a vote among the pro players to stage a walk out as a form of protest — and an overwhelming majority voted for the walk out. However, instead of moving Riot to change their mind, they instead doubled down on their decision by requiring the LCSPA to field replacement players.
What makes competitive games between two pro teams so exciting is the fact that they are the top players in the area, but Riot decided to make matters worse for the LCSPA by removing the restrictions on the players they can field, regardless of their experience. They could be playing for 10 years or for 10 minutes; Riot doesn’t seem to care about the difference.
The LCSPA has gone on Twitter and other social media outlets, informing the people that they should refuse any offers given to them to be a part of the LCS team as it would greatly insult those players who have walked out and greatly undermine their entire struggle. With no players to field, Riot should be feeling the pinch, but instead, they gave an ultimatum in a lengthy article published on their official website: field a team within two weeks or the entire LCS summer season would be cancelled, automatically disqualifying them from World 2023.
At the time of writing, the LCSPA has been in face-to-face communication with Riot since the announcement and is trying to reach a compromise, but there has been no official statement since. This is a developing story.
Source: LOL Esport. Wikimedia Commons
