The faith in the future of LCS, the North American championship of League of Legends, perhaps has never been so low.
The fans of the league had already voiced their concern to Riot Games after the organizer changed the matchdays from weekend primetime hours to Thursday and Friday as part of a restructuring in December 2022 and now they’re gutted to learn that desk host and analyst James “Dash” Patterson, a staple of the LCS’ broadcast, won’t return for 2023, Dash himself confirmed yesterday.
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LCS fans were quick to point their finger at Riot after Dash broke the news yesterday and become even more disappointed after the desk host and analyst shed light on how the situation was handled. Dash told his viewers during a livestream that the LCS didn’t negotiate with him before making the cut and simply told him that his services weren’t needed anymore in 2023.
Since Dash made the announcement, the community has mostly backed him up on Twitter, recognizing all that he did for League esports in North America for the past decade, and are heavily criticizing Riot for the decision and how it treated Dash.
The backlash isn’t only taking place on Twitter. The League subreddit also has a couple of threads in which fans have accused Riot of killing the LCS and favoring VALORANT, which has become more popular in North America. One fan suggested Riot let the LCS be co-streamed at this point, since the company is cutting costs.
Dash also worked in several international events like the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and Worlds over his years as a Riot employee. His departure comes after iconic caster David “Phreak” Turley stepped away from shoutcasting in December 2022 to become a game designer for the Summoner’s Rift team.
Riot hasn’t addressed the backlash yet via any of its official channels. All Riot has done so far was to retweet Dash’s announcement.
