Riot Games wants a court to end its ‘League of Legends’ sponsorship deal with FTX

engadget.com:

Riot Games is trying to extricate itself from its League of Legends Championship Series partnership with FTX. On Friday, the studio filed a motion with the court overseeing FTX’s bankruptcy case to end the seven-year sponsorship agreement the two companies signed last August.

In a brief spotted by crypto critic and Web3 is Going Just Great creator Molly White (via PC Gamer), Riot says the exchange still owes half of the 12.5 million it agreed to pay in 2022 for the studio to display FTX branding at LCS events. Riot adds the disgraced firm will owe it another nearly $13 million in 2023, with the first quarterly payment of the year due on January 2nd. FTX’s yearly payments to Riot are scheduled to increase through the end of their agreement in 2028.

Riot Games just filed a motion in the FTX bankruptcy case to end their deal, pertaining to the League of Legends Championship series.FTX still owes $6.25M (about half the payment) for 2022, and will owe $12.875M for 2023. Per the agreement, the payments escalate through 2028.

Riot also has a personal stake in the case. More than a year before he was arrested on fraud charges, FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried admitted he was “(in)famous for playing League of Legends while on phone calls.” SBF’s gaming habit became something of a joke when it came out that he wasn’t very good at the game.

“Images of Mr. Bankman-Fried playing League of Legends were displayed alongside text describing his cavalier attitude towards investor meetings and irresponsibility with corporate funds. These images created a public narrative that Mr. Bankman Fried’s interest in League of Legends, once relatable and human, was now reckless and juvenile," Riot states. “Even Mr. Bankman-Fried’s ranking in