Riot Games and the owners of League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) teams are in an ever growing fight and the present and future profitability of the game’s eSports scene.
The report claims overall Riot eSports has “no five to 10 year plans,” and is “just kind of woefully unprepared.” It also states that Riot’s parent company, Chinese investment company by the name of Tencent Holdings Limited, is considering “a large shakeup” of who runs the LCS due to the latest drama.
PVPLive’s James “Obscurica” Chen’s article on the problem posted on Thursday gives some reasons as to why this has happened, claiming “at best incompetency and at worse collusion at the top of Riot’s esports department.”
The allegations directly surround eSports director Whalen Rozelle and LCS Chairman Dustin Beck, brother of Riot co-founder Brandon Beck. Chen states that during this whole ordeal, “it’s become very hard to find anybody to defend.” Chen also claims and proves that Rozelle sided with Beck on issues to “build capital” despite Beck being underqualified for the position.
“Beck, known to the community as Redbeard, was assigned early on to oversee eSports development – no screening was involved, despite the responsibilities of the role, and his original assignation was to finance instead. He had no applicable skill or knowledge sets for competitive development, and it was demonstrated in his leadership over the department.
When Beck felt threatened by the complexities of the eSports program, Rozelle would then build capital with him by agreeing and validating his concerns – even over the protests of other managers and directors.”
One of the most serious parts of Chen’s allegations had to do with Rozelle’s actions towards shoutcaster for OGN in South Korea and former owner of NA LCS organization Renegades, Christopher “Montecristo” Mykles.
The first quote to show this comes from fairly new shoutcaster “Isaac “Azael”, who denied ever being”asked this type of question.”
“When new casters were being interviewed, and this was back in early 2015, late 2014, they were asked a question: “who is the better analyst, Jatt or MonteCristo?” If you answered Monte, Whalen stopped the interview to explain to you why you were wrong.”
A possible criminal allegation is also part of Chen’s report on the website:
“According to sources close to the deal, the sale of EU team Renegades Banditos was thrust upon its owners in the 11th hour: four different offers were submitted to Rozelle, from private investors to current team managers. There is suspicion that the sale was forced upon Badawi and Mykles in order to benefit parties that Rozelle had prior business relations with, but this has not been adequately substantiated – sources close to the team deny problems in the ownership – though the fact that they were forced to accept a unilateral decision plagues the propriety of Rozelle’s actions.”
If this whole ordeal turns out to be real, one thing is for certain and that it won’t put eSports in a good light, especially League of Legends.
