According to Riot Games’ US Director of eSports, Raul Fernandez, the eSports department for League of Legends fights for break-even. Speaking to Axios, he explained that the developer is looking for ways to revive the sports business around its popular MOBA.
Specific numbers weren’t given, but Fernandez was candid in highlighting the game’s issues with regards to esports. Game viewership has dropped, and he acknowledged that Riot is “trying to find our footing, trying to find a way to renew our league.”
Riot previously stated in 2016 and 2021 that it was ignoring eSports revenue to focus on player experience and ensuring the profitability of eSports league teams. But his interview reveals that the studio would like to bring its eSports division into the black sooner rather than later.
Fernandez attributed league of legends problems with many factors, such as the lack of salable broadcast rights that more popular sports have. The larger eSports business is still fairly young, but sports like football and baseball have become popular because they are streamed and talked about all the time. And unlike eSports, they are not owned by one company.
It can also be easy to not know what’s going on in eSports when specific news doesn’t pierce your personal bubble. And even that can depend on the game, the teams involved, and so on.
With a roster of over 100 characters, newbies or viewers who haven’t already watched can be even more confused by what’s going on. The inflated character size also made it difficult to sell in-game items to players built around certain top teams (and their members).
That problem, Fernandez said, is not a problem Assessment Hero shooter Riot 2020 benefits from a smaller number of characters (22 at the time of writing), which makes it easier to sell in-game items. And in contrast league, created by developers Assessment considering specifically eSports as part of its future.
As for solutions, he said Riot will better monetize its in-game items during the eSports season and use digital passes as a way to provide better access to competitions. There are also plans to return League players and spectators who dropped out, but no specific ideas were given.
How eSports can go against the wishes of the players
Both League of Legends and Blizzard Supervision long-standing eSports leagues have been built around them, and now they’ve publicly admitted that they’ve had difficulties with it. In late July, Activision Blizzard announced layoffs at its esports division as the future of the Overwatch League came into question.
With online games being created around eSports comes a tension. Some players just want to play the game and don’t want to be subject to what the more competitive players (who often talk to the developers) have in mind.
The excessive focus on eSports has been a source of criticism Supervision and its continuation for some time. But director Aaron Keller recently said that the move was unintentional, and confirmed that the studio will make the shooter more in line with what all of its players would like to see.
As for Riot, League of Legends has achieved great success outside of eSports. The game grew into its own sub-franchise, with spin-offs built around different characters (and spanning other genres). The Netflix series Arcane also provided an opportunity to get to know each other League without touching the game itself.