Riot built a respectable IP and stable ESport scene, other minor ESport scenes completely dissolved (HotS) while Major Esport scenes (Dota 2) had to resort to introducing Gambling ads and Saudi Arabia sponsorships amidst steady declining viewership just to stay afloat.
Meanwhile League’s ESport is still going strong and continues breaking worldwide viewership records. Sure there was the whole NEOM debacle with the LEC but the end result was Riot walking out of the deal and thats what matters.
So Riot Games have my utmost respect for how they managed their ESport scene despite all the troubles and challenges without relying on easy but immoral investors and sponsors.
sure but it could have been much worse, imagine if there was an international tournament that had a bigger prize pool than worlds held in Saudi Arabia [Riyadh Major in Dota 2] or if you were bombarded by GGBet ads before, after and during World games.
the biggest complaints about ads I see are people meming about mastercard and maybe kitkat lmao