End of the LCS – The anatomy of a failure, and what lies beyond
Published: Sep 17, 2024 - Last Updated: Sep 19, 2024
Earlier this year, Riot Games revealed the end of the LCS as we know it as the league changes its structure next season. In this featured discussion, we’re taking a closer look at the history of this franchised league and what led to this change – let’s dive right in.
Gradual Decline in LCS Viewership
Viewership is a commonly used metric in esports to understand how popular an esport is. Considering this, let’s evaluate the viewership pattern the LCS has endured in the past five years.
To do so, we’re looking at the LCS Championship, the most popular LoL tournament of the year, and its viewership thanks to Esports Charts:
| Iteration of the LCS Championship | Peak Viewers | Average Viewers |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 260,753 | 94,915 |
| 2023 | 223,943 | 76,889 |
| 2022 | 370,178 | 115,545 |
| 2021 | 364,328 | 123,248 |
| 2020 | 545,571 | 205,750 |
Back in 2020, LCS Viewership was incredibly strong, especially at the LCS Summer tournament when fan-favourites TSM managed to soar to the top of the league.
Since then, viewership has tanked and is less than half of what it used to be – this season saw a resurgence as the excitement of the final season seemed to attract more attention. Notably, the format of league matches is something which viewers find rather boring to watch and isn’t great for LoL betting.
Now – let’s try to figure out why the viewership has declined.
Organizations leaving the LCS
For the longest time, the LCS enjoyed a ten-team league featuring the most popular esports organizations in North America. However, with the format requiring heavy investments from esports organizations, teams have struggled to compete and maintain their spot in the league since becoming franchised in 2017.
Back in the early years, esports organizations were fighting for brand recognition and just earn a spot in our LCS Power Rankings. Huge sales such as Dignitas buying out Clutch Gaming for $30 million and Evil Genius acquiring Echo Fox’s spot for $33 million cemented an expectation of a strong investment culture in the ecosystem. By 2023, the LCS Players Association threatened a player walkout, as CLG and TSM sold their spots to NRG and Shopify while organizations complained of the financial stress.
Moreover, at the start of the 2024 season, the LCS took a huge hit after both Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses exited after terminating their contract.
Riot Games couldn’t find any other esports team to fill the spot, the league was forced to become an 8-team league. Now, ahead of 2025, both Immortals and NRG are leaving the LCS.
Talent Development was always a problem
Beyond esports organizations not being happy, the lack of North American talent hurt the viewership of this league. Same as in the Overwatch League, excessive importing of foreign talents affects the identity of teams and forms teams that the community isn’t familiar with can make it harder for viewers.
Naturally, teams were forced to do so due to a lack of available talent in North America.
Potentially a failure by Riot Games, as the league couldn’t survive without a steady stream of talent and a clear path for amateurs to become professionals. Moreover, a lack of young rookies to shake things up has also resulted in a top-heavy league. Overall, the likes of Team Liquid and Cloud9 have dominated the league with a few shake-ups now and then.
Struggles at Major International Events
This idea of poor talent development is reflected in the international achievements of LCS teams across the years at LoL Worlds and MSI:
| International LoL Tournament | LCS Highest Placement |
|---|---|
| MSI 2024 | 5th-6th |
| Worlds 2023 | 5th-8th |
| MSI 2023 | 5th-6th |
| Worlds 2022 | 11th-14th |
| MSI 2022 | 3rd-4th |
| Worlds 2021 | 5th-8th |
| MSI 2021 | 5th |
| Worlds 2020 | 9th-12th |
| Worlds 2019 | 9th-12th |
| MSI 2019 | 2nd |
When the LCS was at its best, Team Liquid managed to break into second place at MSI 2019 – the best achievement the LCS has ever achieved. Similar to the LEC, the LCS has gradually become non-competitive internationally and as a result, Riot Games has awarded fewer seeds and lower seeds for teams from this region.
This is related to poor talent development and may be a cause for poorer viewership.
Good News: Reforming the LCS
While it’s been doom and gloom, we have high hopes for the LCS.
Taking a note from VALORANT, Riot Games is merging the LCS with CBLOL and LLA to form one inter-regional league.
Considering how successful and exciting these minor leagues are, this is exactly what the LCS needed – an injection of viewership, talent and more chance to compete at the international level.
While this is the end of the LCS, the new beginning for 2025 could be the best thing that ever happened to this league.
