League of Legends' esports doesn't break even
According to Riot Games' American esports director Raul Fernandez, the esports division for League of Legends has been struggling to break even. Talking to Axios, he explained that the developer is looking for ways to revitalize the sports business around its popular MOBA.
Specific numbers weren't given, but Fernandez was candid in highlighting the game's issues in regards to esports. Viewership has declined for the games, and he admitted that Riot was "trying to find our footing, trying to find a way to refresh our league."
Riot has previously stated in both 2016 and 2021 that it overlooked esports profits in favor to focus on player experience and ensure esports league teams are profitable. But his interview indicates the studio would like sooner than later to get its esports division into the black.
Fernandez attributed League of Legends' problems to many factors, like a lack of sellable broadcast rights that more established sports have. The larger esports business is still fairly young, but sports like football and baseball became popular because they're broadcasted and talked about all the time. And unlike esports, these aren't owned by any one company.
It can also be easy to not know what's going on in esports unless specific news pierces your personal bubble. And even that may depend on the game, teams involved, and so on.
With a roster of 100-plus characters, newcomers or lapsed viewers can be even more confused by what's happening. The inflated character size has also made selling in-game items to players built around specific top teams (and their members) difficult.
That problem, said Fernandez, is not an issue with Valorant. Riot's 2020 hero shooter benefits from having less characters (22, at time of writing),
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