After all these years, Riot Games is still losing money on League of Legends eSports.
That’s according to the company’s senior director of esports, Raul Fernandez, who told Axios that these tournaments, like the LCS Summer Finals, still aren’t break-even. Riot actually seems to be seeing a decline in viewership.
“We’re trying to find our footing, trying to find a way to renew our league,” he said.
Fernandez added that the LCS Summer Finals held in Newark was profitable for the city and the participating teams.
This echoes Riot’s previous statements that esports don’t make money – that it doesn’t matter if they do, as long as the teams make enough money to stay in business.
“If I can’t make eSports a great business for teams and our sponsors, then we’re not going to last long,” Riot eSports President John Needham said at the time.
“Are we thinking a lot about how to make the whole ecosystem profitable?”
As PCGamesInsider.biz previously reported, it’s not uncommon for developers and publishers of eSports-focused games to not make money on the pro scene. Ultimately, these types of contests act as marketing for the titles involved, so while they lose money, it’s essentially a marketing expense.