League of Leagues striking a balance between eSports and fans' needs
By Yinsu Collins
Last Updated: 25/03/18 4:54pm
Mark Cox, Riot Games' Head of UK Publishing insists the League of Legends developer is happy to see the return of streamer Tyler1.
Tyler Steinkamp, or better known as loltyler1 on Twitch and Youtube, was issued an ID ban from Riot for toxic behaviour back in April 2016. The ID ban was lifted in January of this year and Cox, who is an advocate of making sure Riot as a brand is perceived in the right way, is pleased with Tyler's return.
He said: "Tyler has reformed quite well! He's back streaming League and we're really happy about that. I personally think it's great.
"You obviously have to be careful about where the brand goes, how it's perceived and who is attached to it. We keep a very close eye on that aspect but we're not policing in a way that's seen as Riot is a nasty publisher and stopping people from doing things.
"For eSports sponsorships, we're focused on maintaining the right sponsors that align to the players that wouldn't feel disingenuous to our brand. But streams and content creators are very different, we just let those guys do what they need to do and if there is an issue around player behaviour or toxicity then we'll step in and try and help to work that through."
With League of Legends being a top-tier eSport and arguably the most popular one in the world, Cox stresses the importance of balance between making changes in the game specifically for the pro players and making changes for the rest of the player base.
He said: "The pro teams are very important but the player base as a whole is equally important, you have to make sure as many of our players are as happy as possible. Ultimately, we always listen to our players and we always try and make fixes. Although sometimes some of those fixes might not be popular but you have to balance that with competitive integrity.
"Even though the eSports component is very important, I don't think you can look at one audience or one segment of our ecosystem and say right, we're going to make those changes based on the pros exclusively because that would disadvantage 80 per cent of our player base."
However, Cox revealed Riot will be introducing means to focus and engage with more of the grassroots players of the community.
He said: "In the UK specifically, we announced a new cup, Forge of Champions, which we're looking to do where 32 non-pro teams will come and play against the eight teams we have in the present ESL premiership.
"We've got a very strong focus on developing our grassroots community, building up a tournament platform where anybody from any level can take part, making it less about eSports but more about social playing and competitive gaming."
