In the midst of the Riot Games vs. LCSPA (League of Legends Championship Series Player Association) conflict, a new update regarding the LCS (League Championship Series) was released on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit.

According to prominent esports journalist Travis Gafford, the game’s creator has chosen to remove the requirement for rank in order to allow esports players to compete in the professional league. More than 211 members of the community commented on the disaster, with Redditor u/formaldehid speculating as to whether esports was “done” in North America. Their response reads: “Are esports just done in NA? DOTA and CS (Counter-Strike) is also dying and I refuse to believe that it’s a coincidence.” 

Travis Gafford stated on the most recent episode of the Hotline League podcast that he has obtained information about Riot Games’ decision to halt the necessity for ranked play for League of Legends LCS players from a variety of sources. He declared: “Don’t think this news has broken yet. But, I’ve heard from multiple sources… within an hour of the show starting, that Riot is officially suspending the requirements to play in the LCS. So, now you can be of any rank and you can play from anywhere! You can play from home, even.” 

Gafford began to chuckle and declared that anyone could now take part in the esports industry, saying: “On Thursday, if you would like to be a pro player – so, you, I, Mark, Phil, all eligible to compete in the LCS at this time.” 

A bronze-level League of Legends squad who “spoke in solidarity” and declined to participate in the LCS was mentioned by Phil Aram in jest: “I saw a Bronze 3 stack that spoke out in solidarity, saying that they wouldn’t consider being scabs, and they might be regretting that now. It was a good work opportunity for those Bronze 3s.”