Summary of Huge Esports Drama

00:00:00 - 00:15:00

The North American League of Legends scene is in turmoil due to conflicts between Riot Games, the player association, and the ten LCS team owners. Riot Games recently eliminated the mandate for major league teams to have minor league teams starting from the summer of 2023, leading to an overwhelmingly passed player vote for a walkout. Riot Games suspended the requirements to play in the LCS, allowing teams to sign anyone, but the player association called for potential replacement players to not cross the picket fence. Riot Games responded to the five requests of the Players Association and announced a two-week delay in starting the summer split. The speaker argues that there is an imbalance of power between teams and players and calls for Riot Games to reverse their decision and give more power to players. The solution suggested is allowing minor league teams to join the LCS.

• 00:00:00 In this section, the YouTuber discusses the current turmoil in the North American League of Legends scene, or LCS. The three major parties causing the turmoil are Riot Games, the ten team owners, and the 50+ players in the Players Association. The LCS has been struggling in recent years, with declining viewership and poor performances against other regions in global competitions. There have been requests for changes, including a recent request from the 10 teams to remove the mandate to have an NaCl team, which is a minor league team used to cultivate young North American talent. The situation is complex and could have major implications for the future of esports in North America.
• 00:05:00 In this section of the video, the speaker discusses the elimination of the mandate for major league teams to have minor league teams in the North American League (NAL) starting with the summer of 2023. This decision was made shortly after the teams requested it due to the expense of having both a major and minor league team. However, Riot Games did not involve the player association in this decision, which upset them because they were supposed to be part of the discussion when decisions involving the NAL were made. This led to the players holding a vote for a walkout, where all players would not appear for the start of the summer split. This vote overwhelmingly passed, making it a historic event in Esports history, as no such thing has happened before. Moreover, the players had a list of five requests for Riot Games to consider before they would return to play.
• 00:10:00 In this section, YouTuber Scarra discusses the recent Esports drama surrounding the League of Legends player strike and Riot Games' response to it. Riot Games suspended the requirements to play in the LCS, allowing teams to sign anyone, but the Players Association urged potential replacement players to not cross their picket fence. The Association's call apparently worked, as Riot Games announced a two-week delay in starting the summer split and responded to the five requests of the Players Association. However, Scarra thinks that the teams hold too much power, and Riot Games made a mistake when they started the LCS. He suggests instituting a valorant style promotion-relegation between the majors and minor leagues to make it more accessible and fair. Currently, teams can hold onto their spot in perpetuity, even if they consistently perform poorly. Scarra argues that adding new slots to the league would dilute the pool, but thinks that they should be sharing it anyway.
• 00:15:00 In this section, it is suggested that there is too much power in teams in the LCS, leading to an imbalance of power between teams and players. Riot Games has decided to give all the power to the teams, which the speaker thinks is the reason why the LCS is crumbling as a whole, calling for Riot to reverse this decision and give more power to players instead. In contrast, in the Valorant competitive ecosystem, players have the power to form teams that can enter the minor leagues without a representative team. Despite the negotiation that has opened up between Riot Games and the player association, Riot has rejected all requests from the players. As a solution, the speaker suggests allowing teams from minor leagues to join the LCS.