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.
Riot and the orgs are losing money or barely breaking even. Ever heard of the coming esports winter? Theres a reason why salaries are dropping and LCS losing their biggest sponsors
Tencent owns league of legends lil bro
I still don’t know how Riot keeps convincing Mercedes Benz to sponsor them lmao, I thought it would be a deal for only a year or smth but each year they renew the sponsorship.
how many of you mfs bought a mercedes?
Oner bought a Mercedes when they became T1’s sponsor. He says it’s one of his favourite things lol.
If Riot was a car, what would it be?
it doesn’t help mercedes are so much more expensive than your average car
Meh, it’s funded directly by riot rather than tournaments being hosted simply because they like the game. It’s very enjoyable right now though.
Your circlejerking is insane.
You have such blatant ignorance it’s hard to even start unpacking how dumb your assumptions are.
Let’s just say that if it wasn’t for the LEC staff (who are contractors), Riot would have happily jumped in bed with Saudi for the NEOM money.
Thrive is a strong word. Last I checked viewership in na was crumbling, teams leaving, academy in shambles, lck teams bleeding and needing riot to implement salary caps. It’s not allll sunshines, especially with all the empty promises from riot to the teams the past few years
Thing is, DOTA is dying while League is still growing. Riot’s marketing is insane in a good way. This is the reason why League is so mainstream. DOTA is valve. So their core audience is loyal. The problem is that DOTA’s playerbase are mostly old dudes now and getting younger player to DOTA is hard. There is so much stuff to learn that it’s one of the reasons why I can’t get my friends into it. But once DOTA clicks for you, it is so fun. Some DOTA players even go wayyyy back in the WoW days when the MOBA genre were still exclusively modded game modes. Man I really wish there’s still hope for DOTA. It’s the only Esports game that is genuinely well made.
Are you forgot who sponsored TSM last year OP? And who behind Riot also?
Saudi maybe sportwashing but up to now I don’t see any big problems coming from them, at least in professional sports perspective. Newcastle improving, Riyadh first tour was a success, CR7 still a scoring machine.
Riot is the only company that understands that esports scene doesn’t have to be profitable. It’s a marketing strategy for the game itself. It’s an investment.
and they don’t have gambling ads. That’s a big win.
They just raised LEC minimum age to 18, we all know what that means.
Riot makes it a show. All the others focus way to much on the play play play, sport sport sport.
Riot has a mini concert, cinematics, hype videos for each matchup, music. Ofc advertisers are happy to work with Riot when its a much more entertaining media than say Overwatch
Is this a joke thread or…? Tencent < Crypto < Saudi’s are involved <
Oh wait….the Saudis are coming. Riot just joined hands with CCP. The Saudis are around the corner
Having your staff go on strike to prevent a NEOM merger isn’t the Riot triumph you’re describing it as. It’s like calling Amazon respectable for caving to workers demands for better wages.
The LEC casters/staff are the ones who stopped Riot. Not Riot themselves.
Damn people really hate Riot in the comments lol, I agree with OP, count your blessings
Riot handled the esports scene much better than Blizzard or Valve so kudos to them