accompanied by the commentator and the audience shouted louder. In the 40th minute of the last game, DRX opened a gap in the team battle and took the ancient dragon into his pocket. At the same time, Kingen, who was resurrected from the crystal, joined forces with Zeka to kill two players who were trying to steal the house. In this nearly 5-hour "marathon" tug-of-war, DRX truly opened the door to victory and won the championship of the League of Legends S12 Global Finals.
The ups and downs of the finals are enough to make it one of the crazyest games in League of Legends history. The legendary story of Faker and Deft, two main players on both sides, has also become its most suitable footnote.
However, after the hustle and bustle of this highly anticipated final, we decided to calm down and discuss a few issues. In this S competition, whether it is the LPL competition area, the event itself, commercial development or the impact of the epidemic, there are many exposed problems worth discussing, and it is time to provide countermeasures.
S12 has passed, but these problems will be brought to S13 and even the longer-term future.
1.LCK Newcomers emerge. Where are the future players of LPL?
The final of this S competition, the age of the contestants has become a topic of discussion.
Whether it is DRX or T1, both teams have an age structure that leads to the new with the old. As early as the group stage, League of Legends officially counted the youngest players in each position in this S match. The T1 team occupied 4 of them, and the youngest player in the remaining mid-lane position was DRX's player Zeka. These five contestants were born in 2002 and later. The youngest ZEUS was born in 2004, close to the standard of "post-05". In the finals, the five young players, whether they are T1's Oneer, Keria, or Zeka on the opposite side, all performed well. The youth storm flapping by LCK is amazing, and they are ready to take over the banner of their predecessors. In the competitive event, it is normal for young players to surging in the future and the guarantee of the vitality of this project, but this does not mean that the veterans are already "old". On the contrary, the legendary player Faker of T1 and the DRX bottom lane player Deft, who is familiar to LPL audiences, are both "old" at the age of 26. The two are still from the same high school, which has to be said to be a coincidence. No matter who wins the championship, these two players will set a record for the 25-year-old champion of the S Championship.
Mapo High School Derby, finally won the trophy by Deft (right). The two players are not old. On the one hand, it may be related to the fact that e-sports training has been more integrated into sports science in recent years and reduces the injuries and fatigue of older players. In this regard, LPL's legendary player Uzi is also cooperating with Nike for rehabilitation training to get rid of various occupational diseases brought by e-sports.
On the other hand, Deft and Faker may also be considered exceptions. Both players are representatives of quite self-discipline, which allows them to maintain a better state than other older players. Faker is a player who is not good at speaking, and even in the interview, he always keeps goals of "champion", "strongest", etc.; Similarly, Deft said in an interview after losing the S game last year that he seemed to have given up everything, and there is only games left in his life. It is this attitude that allows them to stand on the peak stage at this age.
However, time is not without traces on them. Faker has been in the BO5 competition for the past two years and has easily declined and made mistakes after a long time. His performance in the future in this final was also somewhat unstable. How to play the value of players of different ages through reasonable coordination is also an advantage that the two teams in this S match show to the outside world.
LCK is constantly emerging young players, but LPL may have to worry about discovering talents. Last year, the state issued a notice further restricting the online gaming time for minors. The scope of the notice not only covers all domestic game companies, but also restricts minors to only play for 3 hours a week, and limits the time period, which eliminates the possibility of changing numbers and changing games for more time. This measure to prevent minors from becoming addicted to the Internet is a major blow to e-sports.
Many of the current e-sports players start to play a game frequently at around the age of 10. If you can only play for 3 hours a week before you are 18, no one can reach the professional level. Although minors who have "compromises" who have "below" register an account with their elders' ID cards, it is a gray method after all. At present, this restriction order does not seem to give a green light to e-sports youth training players. Even if the green light is given, players under the age group of youth training camps will be greatly lost. This has not caused any problems at the moment, but when all the adult players have retired, who should take over the e-sports team, including LPL?
Of course, there are still some young rookies in various domestic e-sports competitions. The problem may not be completely exposed 3-5 years later. Perhaps by gaining the recognition of sports, the restrictions on some events can be relaxed to a certain extent. But minors, especially those who are particularly young, are always treated as educational or even social problems, and it is not easy to solve them.
, and the current LPL is not without problems. This year, LPL has exposed the problem of tactical solidification compared to LCK, which is actually an old problem exposed by LPL in the past. Since League of Legends will usher in a new version before the World Championship, whoever adapts faster will naturally have the advantage. The Korean coaches of LCK and JDG have studied this area very quickly, including Korean players who are more proficient in the new version of heroes. This has also given rise to the advice of many people to introduce Korean coaches. Through top coaches, we will take the current group of players who are playing to the next level. At least next year's Asian Games and S matches are more important issues at the moment.
2. The ratings of the S game decline. How to deal with the game entering the "olderness"?
During the group stage of S12, the foreign broadcast data website Esports Charts counted the ratings of this year's S match. The cumulative viewing time of the group stage dropped by 41% year-on-year, the lowest since S9. Although China's data has not been counted, due to the time difference and geographical distance, the S game has become much lower in China this year, even if many people are optimistic about this year's LPL team.
In addition to China, the ratings of South Korea, which is also in East Asia, have also declined sharply, with the overall ratings of falling by 63% year-on-year compared with . Currently, the two strongest divisions in League of Legends have declined in popularity, which should be paid attention to for , , especially China, which has a huge e-sports market. In fact, in recent years, Riot has been intending to hold more competitions in East Asia. If it were not for the epidemic prevention policy, it might be the right solution to place the S game closer to the huge player group in East Asia. For example, the MSI held in South Korea this year has received a lot of attention in China, and its popularity has further increased after the rematch incident. In addition to site selection, the S game adopts a single-beat elimination system. Compared with the double-beat system in other e-sports competitions, it seems that the team has fewer opportunities and fewer matches. Of course, all competition systems have their pros and cons, and there is no absolutely ideal competition system. However, we have seen that Riot also wants to make changes. During the S12 period, they announced plans to reorganize MSI in 2024, turning it into a larger e-sports event. Although there is no specific plan, League of Legends e-sports may have two S-level events in a year, which will increase the importance of the entire spring season and MSI events by one level, thereby stimulating the growth of ratings.
S12 finals warm atmosphere
In addition to the competition system, it is an indisputable fact that League of Legends, as the game itself, has entered the "old age". It is not easy for the game to attract newcomers to play for a long time and transform it into core players. Among the current players, East Asia is the largest and the strongest in the competition area. The European team that was able to reach the finals a few years ago has not performed much in the past two years. Even from the performance of this S match, LPL is also faintly behind LCK. Such imbalance in the competition area has also been a long-term problem. The loneliness of Europe and the United States can be attributed to the monopoly of the East Asian team to a certain extent.
However, the problem of the player group and the game strength itself seems to be unsolvable. This involves very deep things such as player atmosphere, game underlying mechanisms, etc. For Riot, it is impossible to ignore the things at the bottom of the pyramid. Instead of starting with the game itself, it is better to continue to expand the influence of e-sports competitions and use e-sports to sink to the popularity of the game. This is undoubtedly the route that Riot planned from the beginning - at least from the effect, it has continued the game's life to the best of its ability. So the changes or extensions of the game itself are more of a "defense" for Riot. For example, League of Legends mobile games and e-sports manager games are all of this type, and the real "offensive" may still have to return to the reform of e-sports events.
3. China's sponsorship has cooled down, how does the business attraction of S race rebound?
This year's S competition has many broadcast channels in China. In addition to the main Bilibili and Huya , Tencent and Weibo can also be seen on video platforms. Of course, B station, which has signed the copyright of the three-year S competition for RMB 800 million, is still the main force. In addition to the main live broadcast room, it is also the only platform in mainland China that can conduct second-way commentary. This year, professional players such as Uzi, Crisp ( Liu Qingsong ) or well-known anchors have also been invited to conduct second-way commentary. Various event derivative programs are a major feature of B station's S competition. When it comes to the last year of copyright, I don't know who will be the copyright of the S competition next year.
A favorable background for B site to acquire the three-year copyright was that two of the original plans were held in China. However, the arrival of the epidemic has created many variables.
After moving to Iceland in the middle of the S match last year, the enthusiasm of sponsors in China has significantly decreased. This year, the Chinese sponsors in the S match are only single digits. The venues far away from China and the recession of the economic environment seem to have impacts. Another problem is the decline in the ratings mentioned above. The popularity of S matches in China is not as good as last year. These factors have led to the lack of sufficient enthusiasm for Chinese sponsors.
"High Energy Watching Team" and the second creation of the event content, B station's commentary and diversified viewing perspective
In fact, if you compare LPL with S game, the economic environment does not seem to be the main factor. According to our previous statistics, the number of sponsors in the LPL summer season has actually increased compared to last year, and its business influence has continued to grow steadily. The audience's attention to the competition is the more important issue. LPL, as the ceiling of domestic e-sports events, is also the focus of the most attention of e-sports fans. Moreover, when RNG won the MSI event this year, all parties are more concerned about who will participate in the S competition this year. However, this attention has not continued into the S game. Whether it is the physical distance or the unfriendly time of watching the game, the voice of this year's S game is lower than in previous years, which obviously affected the enthusiasm of sponsors. The participation of sponsors of
is affected by the popularity of the event and seems to be more passive. Perhaps only brands that need to use e-sports to go overseas will be determined to invest in sponsorship of S. This year's global partner , OnePlus mobile should be planning this year. They are fully deployed in the entire League of Legends event, and can be seen in both LPL, European Masters and S. Moreover, one of their exposed positions in the S match is the dragon pit where team battles often break out. There are enough shots and are very clear. When more Chinese brands need to be younger and go overseas, e-sports may be a direction to invest. In addition, Riot's changes to the MSI competition system may also provide sponsors with better opportunities. If there are two S-level events in a year, they may be more diversified in terms of site selection and sponsor participation.
In the short term, whether such a competition can return to China still depends on how the epidemic will develop.
4. Epidemic prevention is still a problem
After two years of S game and MSI, Riot placed the host of the S12 Global Finals in North America, where epidemic prevention is relatively relaxed, so that the audience can return to offline games.As the organizer and game developer of this event, it is understandable that Riot chooses the latter between complete epidemic prevention and audience. Whether in terms of ticket revenue or event atmosphere, whether there are audiences or not is a completely different concept. In fact, the Major events including TI, CS:GO and Rainbow Six have been opened for audience entry this year, and major game companies, event organizers and clubs have chosen to accept the risks of the current epidemic.
However, choosing to accept does not mean that the problem can be completely solved. The first finalist of S12 was due to the epidemic. A player from the European team Fnatic tested positive for the new crown, and the infected player needed to play alone in the quarantine room. Since then, many teams have gradually become infected.
, and the LPL region did not return to offline until this summer, and there were no audiences, so the epidemic prevention measures were very strict. The LPL team who went to North America for the first time after the epidemic also became infected without any surprise. The situation of RNG and EDG is particularly serious. Not only are the players almost "annihilated", but even the coaching team is not spared, and the continued symptoms make them completely unable to train. JDG player Yagao was also infected at the end of the group stage. Although it seems that the LPL team has a certain strength gap between LCK from the knockout stage, if there is no infection, relying on the training match and Rank's personal practice, the result may be more suspenseful.
players had close contact with the audience, and neither side wore masks
. On the other hand, LCK was relatively less affected by the epidemic. Except for some players infected by Gen.G, only DRX coaches were diagnosed during the event. The team was able to practice at their own pace as a whole. The progress of DRX players from the finals to the finals is obvious to all.
Looking back, the epidemic prevention problems faced by the event are multifaceted. From the general perspective, in the United States environment and the situation of letting the audience open, it is almost impossible to achieve 0 diagnosis; from the perspective of the organizer, except for the confirmed personnel, Riot did not make very strict regulations on epidemic prevention, such as wearing masks, or in other words, in the current consensus in North America, such strict measures are difficult to implement. In addition, according to the information feedback from the team members on the Internet, the ventilation of the team's hotels living in Atlanta is not ideal; from the perspective of the team, the epidemic prevention measures are relatively loose. For example, in JDG's S match Vlog, it can be seen that the players' diet is basically through takeaway, and many people did not wear masks when the team went out in New York. All these factors increase the risk of infection.
has no turning back. Once the fist decides to let go, the subsequent events will basically not return to the possibility of restricting entry. However, when the epidemic still exists for a long time, the LPL team, which has been in a safe environment for a long time, will inevitably face this problem every time they participate in a world event. Take epidemic prevention measures and maintain health, and you can go further in the event.
Next year will be the 13th year of the League of Legends professional competition. For such a phenomenal game and e-sports event, too many people hope that its glory can continue. For the fist, this huge plate has finally turned and must be allowed to continue to rotate. At least it seems that way.
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