LOL faces its esports doomsday! International tournaments are all 3-0 sweeps, LEC is on verge of collapse, and even the Chinese and Korean regions are struggling.

Hello to all LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners, this is World Game Hub.

The LOL Global Pioneer Tournament is still ongoing; today will see the loser bracket finals, and the semifinals will soon be decided, potentially leading to intra-regional matches for Chinese and Korean teams.

Meanwhile, teams from other regions are in a very tough situation, all facing the risk of elimination.

International tournaments are all 3-0 sweeps, and LEC receives bad news.

This year's Pioneer Tournament international matches have seen a large number of 3-0 results. Among matches between Chinese and Korean region teams, there was one 3-0, and when these two major regions face other regions, they almost always secure 3-0 victories, greatly reducing overall viewing appeal. The skill gap between teams from different regions appears larger compared to previous years.

Previously, when watching tournaments, teams from European and American regions, although never performing exceptionally well in world events, would occasionally upset and win one or two matches, such as defeating an LPL team or even beating an LCK team.

But this year's Pioneer Tournament, such scenarios hardly occur. Firstly, the tournament format uses BO5 throughout, making upset victories extremely unlikely. Secondly, other regions' strength continues to decline. From an LPL viewer's perspective, LPL is already quite poor, but actually, current LPL might resemble LEC a few years ago, while current LEC is an even worse version of LPL.

LPL lacks fresh talent, and European/American regions are even worse. Today, LEC also received bad news: joint streamer Wadid revealed that next year most LEC matches will shift to online format, and studios may no longer be used.

Western viewers are disheartened, and Chinese/Korean regions also face difficulties.

This means LEC will try to cut costs as much as possible. The biggest expense in esports tournaments is venue costs. The main purpose of using venues is to allow live audience attendance—selling tickets and merchandise—so if the tournament's popularity is high enough, the league can profit. Otherwise, if audiences are unwilling to attend live, continuing venue use is undoubtedly wasteful.

This year, G2's performance in the Pioneer Tournament has also been unsatisfactory; they will soon face a decisive battle against BFX. If they lose, LEC will miss the semifinals. As LEC's long-time leader, G2 may no longer be able to stir up any waves in world tournaments.

Regarding this news, European viewers are very dismayed, expressing reluctance to see Western LOL decline.

Actually, not just the West; Chinese and Korean regions are also struggling recently. Most LCK teams operate at a loss, and this year league prizes were canceled. However, unlike other regions, LCK has Faker and T1, and Chovy and GEN also enjoy considerable popularity, so overall热度 remains high.

LPL is actually quite similar to LEC now. For most matches in the Resilience and Rebirth groups, live audiences are sparse.

LOL faces its esports doomsday, and the future will be even tougher.

Last year, LPL relied heavily on IG's "All-Gods" squad for流量, but this year that squad is gone, leaving LPL without a top-tier team. Most matches lack热度; not just Resilience and Rebirth groups, even for most Ascension group matches, viewers lack compelling reasons to watch—unwilling to watch online, even less willing to spend money attending live.

Personally, I believe next year LPL might also shift heavily to online直播模式, possibly with regular season matches online and playoffs at live venues, to minimize costs. Of course, if LPL wins this year's world championship, that would change the situation.

All clues point to one clear conclusion: LOL has truly reached its esports doomsday; past glory is gone. In recent years, Riot has implemented various reform strategies to halt decline, especially global BP, which一度 restored tournament观赏性. But this year, even global BP cannot save LOL赛事. No matter future reforms, the essential nature of LOL matches won't change, and viewers'审美疲劳 will worsen.

Honestly, this is also the ultimate fate of an esports game. Compared to other esports, LOL has been remarkably successful, with over a decade of peak popularity unmatched by others, but inevitably it will decline someday.