Riot is listening to their fans...
The LCS Receives New Timeslot After Huge Backlash
The LCS hasn't had a good start to 2023, with fans almost completely giving up on the region, and even thinking that Riot themselves have lost hope in North American LoL with the sudden unexplained changes that were being made ahead of the season.
In a recent interview by Travis Gafford, Riot’s president of esports John Needham and global head of League esports Naz Aletaha, opened up about the LCS and the future plans for the regions, finally giving players some context to the changes.
LCS Start Times Pushed Back Ahead of Season Start
The LCS will be played on Thursday and Fridays starting in 2023, giving over the prime slot of League of Legends esports to the LEC in Europe. That wasn't the issue with most fans though, but a lot of viewers felt alienated by the start time of the LCS, which was set to kickoff at 12:00 pm PT.
Thankfully, Riot listened to their community and how, for many, this time slot was just not manageable to sit down and watch LCS, which is why it has been decided to move the time back by two hours, thus starting LCS action during the week which is at 2:00 pm PT instead. This means that East Coast viewers can sit down after school at 5:00 pm ET to watch the LCS.
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Needham and Aletaha explained that around 70% of LCS viewers live on the East Coast so it was important for them o find a time slot that worked for them, without the game day going too long into the evening.
LCS Still One of Most Important Regions for LoL
In regard to the investment from Riot in North American League of Legends, Needham stated that the LCS is considered number two in Riot's ecosystem, at least from a revenue perspective. He added on that the LCS is "one of our more important leagues within the [League of Legends esports] ecosystem".
This should reassure fans that while it might have seemed like Riot was slowly abandoning the LCS. It seems there are more plans in the future for the league and that there are more things being worked on to boost viewership numbers, though Needham and Aletaha did mention that the way Riot has been communicating with the fans hasn't been handled properly, which is something they'll work on in the future.