Running on their own system, the Chinese LPL has been bringing great League play over the years, and is considered the best region behind the Korean LCK. Kelsey Moser over at thescoresports.com has recently had sources reveal information stating that Riot Games is going to assume control over this massively popular division. Just what will they do:
Sources tell theScore eSports that if Riot does assume control, that they are likely to regulate the LPL and produce the broadcast as well. At the moment, the League of Legends Association of Chinese Esports (LACE) are responsible for most league regulations and have cooperated with Tencent and Riot in the past in creating rules such as the single ownership policy.
According to several sources, Riot’s main objective is in keeping rules and restrictions uniform with the North American and European LCS as well as the LCK in Korea. For example, the LPL currently allows players aged 16 and over to participate, while LCS and LCK set the age limit at 17. Players like Royal Never Give Up’s mid laner Li “xiaohu” Yuanhao, who is currently 16 and won’t turn 17 until after the LPL resumes in the spring, would be affected should this come to fruition.
The main topic under discussion is the possibility that third party tournaments involving LPL teams in China, such as the National Electronic Sports Tournament and Demacia Cup, will not continue in 2016. Tencent authorizes multiple third party tournaments to which LPL teams are invited, especially during the winter offseason following the World Championship. Should Riot assume full control of tournament licensing, it’s unclear whether these events will continue.
Some of those third party events are amazing tournaments, bring high level matches to hundreds of thousands of fans across Asian, why get in the way of that? There is more going on here and an update from a Rioter, so check all that out in the full article here.
