Riot reverses decision on pro-LoL players streaming
LCS competitors now "free to stream any games they want"
Riot Games, publisher of League of Legends and promoter of the official League of Legends Championship Series, has reversed its previous decision to ban all participating players from streaming a number of competitor's games whilst under contract to the tournament.
The decision, made only recently, had proven extremely unpopular with both players and the game's e-sport audience, many of whom watch the Series' participants play other games competitively. Included in the list of games the players were banned from streaming were highly popular games like DOTA 2 and Starcraft 2.
A statement released by Riot, as reported by onGamers, explained the reasoning behind the original decision and detailed the agreements which remain between it and the Series' players.
"There's been a ton of discussion around our LCS team contracts, which stipulated active LCS players couldn't stream a variety of other games.
"First, background on why we did this: there've been instances of other game studios trying to buy access to League fans by using (or trying to use) LCS teams/players to promote their competing games on stream.
"The way we chose to deal with this was clearly an overreach. It hit our goal of preventing companies from advertising through LCS players, but it also encroached on pros' ability to have fun and entertain viewers during long Challenger queues - and we realize that's not cool.
"After reading all of your comments and having a LOT of internal debate over the last 24 hours, we're going to be changing the LCS team requirement to something that more closely matches our intent. While under contract to the LCS, teams and players can't accept sponsorship from other game companies to promote other titles. Besides that, they are free to stream any games they want."
League of Legends' popularity is immense, with it remaining the most played PC title worldwide and the most popular game for e-sports competitions. Accordingly, both profits and investments in its tournaments are significant, with high-ranking players enjoying considerable sponsorship and fame.