Riot Games Announces Major Changes to LoL Esports Structure

The new Dev Talk discussed many changes, including the new game mode Swarm and the upcoming Mastery System visual updates. John Needham, President of Esports, and Chris Greeley, Head of Strategy for LoL Esports, took some time to announce the upcoming esports changes in League of Legends. 

Team Partnership and Revenue Sharing

Earlier this year, Riot Games updated the team partnership model for the LCK, LCS, and LEC. They decided to focus on sharing digital revenues with the teams in their Tier 1 leagues. Now, they are entering the second phase of this update. Here's what it will bring:

• A unified split structure for all leagues.
• Adding a third international event to the LoL esports calendar.
• Proposed changes to leagues in the APAC and Americas regions.

Reducing the Number of Tier 1 Teams

The number of teams in the Tier 1 ecosystem will be significantly reduced. This is intended to strengthen team participation in the new Global Revenue Pool. With fewer teams sharing the revenues, each team will receive a larger cash prize. This change should also concentrate player talent in the best teams.

• This idea seems to be inspired by the VALORANT Esports model.

New Multi-Region Leagues

Starting in 2025, Riot will combine several regions into a single multi-region league. These regions include Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, Japan, Vietnam, and Oceania. This new league will bring the top teams and talent from these areas to compete against each other.

Riot also plans to merge the LCS, CBLOL, and LLA into a single Americas league. The LCS and CBLOL would compete in the North and South Americas conferences, respectively. Each league will have six teams competing, plus one team from the LLA. The final slot in each event will be for promotion and relegation from the Tier 2 system. This change aims to provide a clear path for players to compete at the Tier 1 level.

New International Event and Tournament Structure

After these changes, the Tier 1 ecosystem will consist of five leagues: The Americas, APAC, LEC, LCK, and LPL.

There will also be a third international event in 2025, starting with regional play early in the year. Each regional league will have one team qualify for the international event in March. The best teams from each region will compete in a round-robin format, leading to a bracket stage to crown a champion. This event will allow players and fans to try out different competitive formats, such as the Fearless Draft mode.

Refining Regional Split Structures

With the addition of the new international tournament, Riot plans to refine regional split structures. Each region will start the year with the new tournament or tournament split, followed by two shorter splits throughout the year, ending with MSI and a regional championship. Regional champions will be crowned at these league championships, rather than at the end of each split. The season will culminate with the annual Worlds championship.

It seems Riot Games is doing its best to maintain viewer interest in LoL esports. Stay tuned for more updates and details on these exciting developments!