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We’ll be taking a look at Riot’s latest announcement regarding its future plans for esports. We also now know where Steeelback will be playing League of Legends next split.
That, plus much more!
Riot to overhaul League of Legends revenue dispersion
It hasn’t been the smoothest of years for Riot, with the company mired in various controversies throughout the 2016 Spring and Summer Splits.
For starters, Riot banned three teams for conduct detrimental to the health of competitive play.
That was followed by a public battle between Riot co-founder Marc Merrill, and Team SoloMid owner Andy Dinh. The issue? Riot’s abrupt decision to shake up the current meta (and eliminate split pushing) right before the start of Worlds.
Last week we announced the creation of the Professional eSports Association, a direct attempt by teams to take more control over tournaments and revenue.
Riot has now replied to that power move.
Riot’s new revenue stream
For starters, Riot will be providing more prize pool money for future tournaments, starting with Worlds in 2016. Below is an outline of its proposed additions:
Championship skins/wards
Starting this week, 25 percent of the revenue from each year’s Championship skin and Championship ward will be included in the Worlds prize pool.
That means every fan at home will now be contributing to the Worlds prize pool when they purchase one of these cool skins/wards!
This year’s championship skin is Zed. Riot has stated that 25 percent of the revenue from last year would have more than doubled the 2015 Worlds prize pool.
Challenger skins
Just like for Worlds, 25 percent of the revenue from the preseason Challenger skin will be added to the prize pool of the Mid-Season Invitational.
Team championship skins
This one will be a significant boost to organizations that win Worlds. It has been a tradition of Riot’s to make a skin collection for the team that wins Worlds. (Essentially, each player will have a skin emulating or depicting them.)
Starting next year, 25 percent of the revenue from these skins will go directly back to the players who inspired them, the team they play for, and their current league.
Riot has also stated it will go back and share revenue from past Team Championship skins for each of the teams that won Worlds. That would be Fnatic, Taipei Assassin, SK Telecom T1 (twice), and Samsung White.
Digital goods
Riot will be releasing a new line of team-branded digital items through its shop next year. These will be in-game items with team logo themes.
Riot will also be running some type of esports promotions to generate revenue (no details on this yet).
Summoner icons
Riot will now share 20-30 percent more of the revenue generated from Worlds icons (including team icons).
Revenue re-appropriation
To help address issues with teams still trying to find financial footing, starting in 2017, each league (LCS, LCK, LPL, etc.) will have to set aside a predetermined amount of money for each team.
For example, the EU LCS will have a minimum revenue amount of €100,000 per team for the full season, of which 50 percent will go to players as supplemental income on top of their existing salaries.
Stability is the key goal
Most of these proposals are aimed at creating team stability. Riot wants to build long-term partnerships with teams, instead of organizations with the most financial backing (from questionable sources) dominating the scene.
The hope is that teams will have more financial resources to retain their star players, add more roster opportunities, and just create a more efficient relationship.
Hacker steals Cloud9/TSM information
Cloud9 and TSM found out the hard way what living in a digital era without proper security protocols can mean.
On Tuesday, Cloud9 coach Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu had his Twitter account hacked. Even more concerning was the content that was released.
The hack produced a leak of critical private information, including player log-ins on South Korean servers, chat logs, personal contact information, passport information, and full-length leaked scrims.
That included matches between Cloud9 and ROX Tigers in the past two weeks.
The hacker known only as “Rorylol” posted one match online for free. The game consisted of a watermark that listed Rorylol’s contact info, a Skype account, and a tor-based email.
The hacker was advertising additional scrims and team information for purchase with the untraceable digital currency Bitcoin. The hack was not contained to just Cloud9, either.
Team Liquid coach Choi “LocoDoco” Yoon-sup had passport information, chat logs between TL players, and phone numbers, emails, and addresses of TSM’s current and former players and staff all published on Reapered’s Twitter.
Rorylol stated this was a deliberate effort to damage world tournament preparation efforts for multiple Western teams. There has been no additional information on how the hacker obtained this information, but reportedly two-factor authentication could have prevented it.
Apparently, Riot has publicly and internally warned players about possible hack attempts.
Neither Riot nor the Cloud9 organization can force players or staff to take these precautions. Riot has not commented at this time if it will seek legal action against Rorylol.
Vitality signs Steeelback as new AD Carry
A popular EU LCS journeyman ADC will now be starting for his fourth team.
Former Fnatic, Unicorns of Love and Team ROCCAT AD Carry Pierre “Steeelback” Medjaldi will be joining Team Vitality next split.
Steeelback played just one split for ROCCAT after his stint with the Unicorns of Love (which also only lasted one split). Team Vitality is a France-based organization, which was a major attraction for the French native Steeelback.
The ADC role for Vitality has been in flux since Petter “Hjärnan” Freyschuss stepped down.
The team attempted to split time with two ADCs last split, Korean import Hyeong-gi “Police” Park and Danish prospect Victor “Reje” Etlar Eriksen.
Steeelback released an official statement on Vitality’s website:
“I’m both happy and excited to join Team Vitality. Following a disappointing season, I want more than ever to be part of 2017 World Championship and I feel it’s something that I might be able to do here.
Also, even if it didn’t really impacted my choice, it would be fantastic to offer to french supporters the first participation of an organization from our country in World Championship since creation of LCS.”
