League of Legends Origins (2019)

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-This is MissZammer.
-This is SummerGypsy.

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-My name is EzekielChaos.
-SparklyPancakes.

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TaylorSwift.

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-I play Top.
-And I play Jungle these days.

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-I like to support as Teemo.
-I fight for Demacia.

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Oh, yeah, we're playing LoL .

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I was like, "What's LoL ?"
He's like, "Laugh Out Loud?"

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I was like, "No, fool!
That's League of Legends !"

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Holy crud, did this suck us in
and get us connected.
(480p & 720p Movies Downlod | Mkvking.com)

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-We're raging at each other.
[laughs]
-We're raging. We're laughing.

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[man 1] League is something
that is not as much of a game,

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but more of a place
where we can be ourselves

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and enjoy what we do
and who we do it with.

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[man 1] You guys ready?

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-[man 2] Yeah.
-[woman 1] Yup.

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-[man 3] Queue it.
-[man 1] Let's do it.

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-[man 1] Here we go .
-[chimes]

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-[man 1] All right we're queuing
up.
-[keys clacking]

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GLHF, everybody.

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[upbeat music playing]

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-[keys clacking]
-[indistinct dialogue]

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-I wasn't ready.
-I can do it.

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We got to gank real quick.

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[man] There's always been
that parent to child stigma

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of whatever you don't understand
is obviously not valuable.

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A lot of parents or society saw
people as being antisocial.

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"Hey, this kid is holed up
in his room playing games

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and it's totally
ruining society."

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-[crowd cheering]
-[upbeat music playing]

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[woman] I don't think gaming
is as niche and isolated

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as a lot of people think it is.

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There are these really
strong human stories.

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He started playing
and I found out he liked me.

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We've only known each other
about a year.

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Give or take.

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Give or take and we're just like
brothers, so... [clicks tongue]

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[upbeat music playing]

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[crowd cheering]

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The game is all done
through the word of mouth.

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85 percent of the people who
come is through a friend.

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[crowd cheering]

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League of Legends has over 100
million players actively playing
every month.

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That's over one percent of
people on Earth.

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The nerds are coming together.
We will dominate this world.

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[man] Competition and player
versus player engagement

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is as old as video games
have been around.

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-We don't get that competitive.
-Not a single one of us is
competitive.

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We swear.

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[man] It's a giant guerilla
warfare scenario

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and only the smartest, strongest
and best players come out alive.

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-[caster 1] He got it!
-[caster 2] Oh, my God, he wins
the game!

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[female reporter]
The finals drew in 36 million.

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That's more than the
Stanley Cup Finals,

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the World Series
and the NBA finals combined.

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[theme music playing]

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[gamer 1]
I've been playing games my whole
life.

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I started playing PC games
when I was about seven years old

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and I thought it was
like a magic puzzle.

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It just felt like
a whole new world opening up

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because I had a huge passion
for games like Dungeons &
Dragons

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and role-playing
games in general.

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[gamer 2] The most powerful game
experience that I ever had,

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even to this day,

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was in a text based multi-user
game called Dragon Realms .

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You could sort of boot up
the computer, log in,

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and be surrounded by hundreds
of thousands of people

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from all around the world
simultaneously logged in,

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living out adventures in a world
with seemingly limitless
possibilities.

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[gamer 1]
My parents were pretty anti
-game.

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They were big on
academics and sports.

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So we had pretty strict rules
in the house.

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[gamer 2]
For me, it was a bit of an
escape.

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I wasn't the best student
and when I was really into
games,

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it became a huge source of
conflict and clashing.

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[CNBC anchor]
Let's take a look at League of
Legends ,

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it is one of the most popular
video games out there.

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It is raking in
billions in revenue.

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Riot Games is the
company behind it

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and today the company is front
and center on the cover of Inc.
magazine.

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Joining us now
for a CNBC Power Lunch exclusive

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are Riot Games co-founders
Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill.

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Brandon and Marc, welcome.
Good to have you both here.

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I think one of the great
delicious ironies here

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and either one of you
can pick up on this

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is that neither of your parents
were all that thrilled

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at the amount of time you spent
gaming as young guys.

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What are you-- What do they say
now? How do you like me now?

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Yeah, exactly. You know, uh,

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actually my first Nintendo
was something that I won

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at my first grade school raffle

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because my parents
were so anti-video games

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and so, you know,
we'd sort of think about it.

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It was fate, couldn't
keep us away.

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[Beck]
Marc and I met at a summer
program

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right before college.
I was younger than him.

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So I was one of the young kids
in the program.

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I was like, 16.

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I think he was 17 or 18,
he was about to go to USC.

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And I'm like, "Oh, you're from L
.A. Oh, cool, well, me too."

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And "Oh, you like video games,"
and we instantly sort of hit it
off.

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[Beck] Marc had this dichotomy
of like, an Eagle Scout

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who was captain of
the football team

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and crushing it in school
and like, tabletop D&D nerd.

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[Merrill] Brandon was a business
major and the consummate
business guy,

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even from a really young age, he
was just really thoughtful about
opportunities.

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[Beck] Marc and I were playing
tons and tons of games.

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[Merrill] We're playing the heck
out of Counter-Strike and
Starcraft

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and World of Warcraft at the
time were sort of our main
games.

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But, ultimately, our favorite
game at the time was DOTA .

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[man]
DOTA was a custom mod for
Warcraft 3 .

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When Blizzard shipped Warcraft 3
they shipped it with a map
editor

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and people would
use the map editor

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to make different scenarios
that you could play on.

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[Merrill] It really pioneered a
new sub-genre of real time
strategy games

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by focusing on one particular
unit that was really powerful
and interesting

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and then working with a team
of other people.

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[voice in game]
It's come to this!

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Five players was
really a lot of coordination.

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That was really
fun and exciting.

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[Mescon] But it
loaded really slow.

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And there was a strong lack
of matchmaking,

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so you could be playing

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with someone who was
ten times better than you were.

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[voice in game] First blood!

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You had to kind of beat your
head against the wall at every
step

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from hearing about the game
to getting the installation done

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to downloading the map to
getting into the game for the
first time.

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[Merrill] Even though it left a
lot to be desired from a service
standpoint,

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DOTA demonstrated
that games as a service

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was something that could work.

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[keys clacking]

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[Beck]
We felt like a lot of game
companies

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weren't really focused
on gamers like us.

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We don't want to buy a box,
play a game and be done 30 hours
later.

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If the online multiplayer arena
of the game was compelling
enough,

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we want to spend hundreds of
hours in it, thousands of hours
in it.

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We wanted to compete as part
of a community over and over
again.

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[Merrill] We then
started to ask,

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"What does the future
game company look like?"

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And how can we
potentially build that?

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We spent nine months
putting together a plan,

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trying to talk ourselves
out of it, really.

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[Beck] We wanted to build a
company that unapologetically
embraced

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the hardcore gamers
that might be considered niche

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or a small slice
of the audience.

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We had a feeling that this isn't
a particularly small niche

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and there is a lot of us
and there is a lot of pain
points

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that we could solve as a company

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that really cared about that
type of player experience.

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[Beck]
So Marc and I pulled the trigger

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and we started Riot Games in
2006 in West Los Angeles.

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[Mescon] It's like
the gaming company version

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of like, The Mighty Ducks.

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We were in this tiny office
with this stained floor

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and we had one conference room
and the ceiling leaked.

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[man]
I guess from the investor
perspective

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it would have been described
as "capital efficient," which,
you know,

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I think that in the common
vernacular that means "shitty."

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We essentially had some really
passionate, really smart, really
inexperienced interns

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and a couple of industry vets,
who hadn't had a lot of career
success.

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[Beck] We had to learn
everything we didn't know

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and do it with a very young team

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and we were really nervous
because it was months before we
had a big demo

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and key milestone
for the company.

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Marc and Brandon
demoed the game to me

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on the street in San Francisco.

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He put the laptop on a newsstand
and we proceed to play

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this really crude tech demo,
like the game play.

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And I saw the game and I just
thought, "Oh, God, what have I
gotten myself into."

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That map is awful.

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It was like the-- It was so
terrible, so cheesy looking.

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[Snow] It was clunky.
The interface was really bad.

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The art was really bad.

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But they'd managed to do more
in three months

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than some of these other
companies that were paying
stupid sums of money.

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And I was just like, "Wow!
This is actually pretty
compelling."

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It was so ambitious.
The amount of software

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that they wanted
to write was crazy.

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We built matchmaking.
We built your inventory, champ
select.

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We were building everything
outside of the game.

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[man]
The engine was an absolute mess.

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It barely ran.
You know, you can't expect that
much

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of a company that's
never shipped a game,

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with a President and CEO
that have never shipped a game.

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There was a lot of pressure.
We have one shot at this.

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00:10:02,936 --> 00:10:05,480
The real problem to solve
is you have to make a game
that's fun,

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that all these people that love
DOTA and love Warcraft

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and love strategy and love
hardcore games, are going to
want to play.

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[Jew]
The game was about characters.

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We basically scoured pop culture
and built mood boards of awesome
art

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and things that captured
powerful archetypes

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from history and from folk tales
and from fables.

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We took the ones that we thought
were the most compelling

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and kind of added
our kind of pop fantasy spin to
them

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to bring them to life
and to show a face to them

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players have never seen before.

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00:10:44,352 --> 00:10:48,815
They'll be tattooed and badass
and they're kind of renegades.

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And so, we needed to make 40
champions in a year and a half.

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And make sure that we covered
a wide cast

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so that any player
that came in could say like,

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"That one's awesome,
I wanna play that one,"

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00:11:00,327 --> 00:11:01,911
then have a good time.
That was the goal.

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[clicks]

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[game voice-over]
Welcome to Summoner's Rift.

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00:11:08,668 --> 00:11:15,592
League of Legends is a five
-on-five game that's played
across 20 to 45 minutes.

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00:11:15,634 --> 00:11:18,428
In it, you cooperate with your
team of four other players

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to try to storm the base
of your opponent's

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and destroy it before they storm
your base and destroy you.

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00:11:25,477 --> 00:11:29,606
One of the closest sports
analogies for League of Legends
is basketball.

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00:11:29,648 --> 00:11:32,609
There's a map in League of
Legends called Summoner's Rift,

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00:11:32,651 --> 00:11:36,571
and that map is the same every
single time much like a
basketball court.

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00:11:36,613 --> 00:11:38,490
As far as the game
play elements go,

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00:11:38,532 --> 00:11:42,285
you get to pick what type of
thing you want to be going in.

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00:11:42,327 --> 00:11:44,078
In basketball you
have point guards,

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centers, power forwards,
forwards, shooting guards.

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00:11:47,165 --> 00:11:51,836
At this point, League of Legends
has 137 different things on the
roster.

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00:11:51,878 --> 00:11:55,756
So the amount of different
things you can play as is really
big.

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You're in this fantastic,
magical world, and you need to
divide and conquer.

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00:12:00,928 --> 00:12:05,433
What draws players in
and drives that process of
mastery

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00:12:05,475 --> 00:12:08,269
is the fact that
you are so connected

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to that character
that a tiny, tiny mistake

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can result in a massive defeat
or a huge victory.

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00:12:17,612 --> 00:12:22,200
Once you kill the other team's
base, which is called the Nexus,
you win.

225
00:12:22,242 --> 00:12:25,620
-[explosion]
-[game voice-over] Victory!

226
00:12:26,996 --> 00:12:29,499
I remember the first time
we wanted to show

227
00:12:29,541 --> 00:12:32,252
anyone outside the company
League of Legends

228
00:12:32,293 --> 00:12:36,339
and we weren't sure
if it sucked or not.

229
00:12:38,258 --> 00:12:40,385
[birds chirping]

230
00:12:40,843 --> 00:12:42,053
[Mescon]
When you're building a
community,

231
00:12:42,095 --> 00:12:44,972
you really have to start
with the individuals.

232
00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:47,267
And so, I think day one was,
let's start establishing

233
00:12:47,308 --> 00:12:50,604
personal relationships
with the 200 people

234
00:12:50,645 --> 00:12:53,772
that are going to be the first
people who get into this thing.

235
00:12:53,814 --> 00:12:57,360
Riot Games is here at PAX really
to interact with the community
one on one.

236
00:12:57,402 --> 00:12:59,904
You know we have a huge focus
on the community as a company

237
00:12:59,946 --> 00:13:02,574
and so we love talking to the
users, having them,

238
00:13:02,616 --> 00:13:04,783
you know, sit down and play the
game, getting their feedback
live

239
00:13:04,825 --> 00:13:08,538
and really trying to also
promote the game and expose a
lot of people

240
00:13:08,580 --> 00:13:11,082
who have never heard
of the kind of MOBA genre

241
00:13:11,124 --> 00:13:13,126
or "Multiplayer Online Battle
Arena" genre,

242
00:13:13,167 --> 00:13:16,129
which League of Legends
has really helped to pioneer.

243
00:13:16,504 --> 00:13:20,425
It handles a lot like DOTA ,
coming from years of DOTA
experience.

244
00:13:20,467 --> 00:13:22,176
This looks like it's actually

245
00:13:22,218 --> 00:13:24,011
not going to be just a mini
-game, you know.

246
00:13:24,053 --> 00:13:27,014
It's an actual, like,
solid game, you know.

247
00:13:27,056 --> 00:13:29,183
[man] I was not expecting
to enjoy it this much.

248
00:13:29,225 --> 00:13:32,019
I'm generally not very good
at multi-player games

249
00:13:32,061 --> 00:13:36,650
and there's something like a
three-hour wait to get in a game
right now.

250
00:13:37,233 --> 00:13:41,529
[commentator] Sivir, an ally of
Tarakey on the blue team, just
got killed

251
00:13:41,571 --> 00:13:44,031
and now Morgana
is up there all by herself.

252
00:13:44,073 --> 00:13:46,200
She could get sniped herself
if she's not careful.

253
00:13:46,242 --> 00:13:49,329
The Frost Phoenix is up there,
it could slow her down and kill
her.

254
00:13:49,370 --> 00:13:51,623
Yeah, I got my beta key already.
Downloaded it last night.

255
00:13:51,665 --> 00:13:53,458
I played it last night, too.
[chuckles]

256
00:13:53,500 --> 00:13:55,669
Can't get enough, yeah, man.

257
00:13:56,835 --> 00:13:58,546
[clicks]

258
00:13:59,798 --> 00:14:02,841
[Beck] We had gone three years
without making any revenue,

259
00:14:02,883 --> 00:14:06,596
just spending other
people's money.

260
00:14:06,638 --> 00:14:11,142
Then, we had the audacity
to not sell our game

261
00:14:11,184 --> 00:14:13,728
and to make it
available for free.

262
00:14:14,937 --> 00:14:18,316
[Merrill] Free games had a huge
stigma in the late 2000s,

263
00:14:18,358 --> 00:14:21,653
because the only games
that were available

264
00:14:21,695 --> 00:14:24,572
that were free were really old
games from Asia.

265
00:14:24,614 --> 00:14:26,825
[shrieks]

266
00:14:26,866 --> 00:14:30,370
[man] MapleStory was the first
free-to-play game in North
America.

267
00:14:30,411 --> 00:14:32,831
When I first brought
MapleStory out here,

268
00:14:32,872 --> 00:14:35,583
a lot of the business
was going towards console.

269
00:14:35,625 --> 00:14:38,670
So, I kind of went on a path
to being an evangelist

270
00:14:38,712 --> 00:14:40,421
for online gaming
and for free-to-play.

271
00:14:40,463 --> 00:14:43,466
Because, not only was
online gaming very strange,

272
00:14:43,508 --> 00:14:45,677
free-to-play was extremely
strange and the PC,

273
00:14:45,719 --> 00:14:48,179
supposedly as a
platform, was dying.

274
00:14:48,221 --> 00:14:49,764
Traditionally, people buy stuff.

275
00:14:49,806 --> 00:14:51,974
But the one thing that free
-to-play really addresses

276
00:14:52,016 --> 00:14:53,601
is that it's free-to-play.

277
00:14:53,643 --> 00:14:55,936
So a lot of kids would start
playing these games

278
00:14:55,978 --> 00:14:58,606
because there wasn't a hurdle
for them to play.

279
00:14:58,648 --> 00:15:01,275
But, free-to-play
kind of has this reputation

280
00:15:01,317 --> 00:15:03,152
of being a little bit scammy

281
00:15:03,194 --> 00:15:05,613
and tricking you to do these
things or there's going to be
another player

282
00:15:05,655 --> 00:15:09,950
that buys power who's going to
basically overpower you with
their wallet.

283
00:15:09,992 --> 00:15:12,412
Then, out of nowhere
came Riot Games

284
00:15:12,453 --> 00:15:15,665
and they used free-to-play
kind of in the right way.

285
00:15:15,915 --> 00:15:17,417
[Snow] I'll never forget this.

286
00:15:17,458 --> 00:15:20,336
We're in this meeting
and we're talking about Annie,

287
00:15:20,378 --> 00:15:22,255
how she's all built with fire,

288
00:15:23,339 --> 00:15:25,925
and we're talking about Blue
Annie, and she would use frost.

289
00:15:25,966 --> 00:15:29,387
Maybe Frost Annie
would have like a slower attack
rate

290
00:15:29,429 --> 00:15:32,515
but a little bit more damage
rate, and we'd sell that.

291
00:15:32,557 --> 00:15:37,186
You see Steve Feak kind of
sitting there a little down
about it,

292
00:15:37,228 --> 00:15:39,564
and Brandon says,
"Steve, you haven't said
anything.

293
00:15:39,606 --> 00:15:41,775
What do you think?"
Steve looks up and he's like,

294
00:15:41,816 --> 00:15:46,905
"I don't like it,
but I'm having a hard time
saying why."

295
00:15:46,946 --> 00:15:49,532
And Brandon says,
"Does it-- Does it feel bad?"

296
00:15:49,574 --> 00:15:53,536
And Steve's like,
"Yeah, it just feels bad."

297
00:15:54,036 --> 00:15:57,164
[man] So, we decided
early on that we wouldn't sell
power.

298
00:15:57,206 --> 00:16:00,919
We didn't want the person
with the most money to win the
game.

299
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,045
People said, "Oh,
man, we're giving up

300
00:16:03,087 --> 00:16:06,090
assuredly making
$100 million on this game

301
00:16:06,132 --> 00:16:09,844
in order to try this experiment
where we don't know how much
we'll make."

302
00:16:10,678 --> 00:16:15,015
There are ways that people do
spend money, they engage deeper
with our content.

303
00:16:15,558 --> 00:16:18,185
We offer a series of champions
on a free rotation,

304
00:16:18,227 --> 00:16:19,979
so several of them will be free.

305
00:16:20,020 --> 00:16:23,190
Those champions rotate
every couple of weeks.

306
00:16:23,232 --> 00:16:26,736
Some players use the free
champions as part of their
repertoire in a game.

307
00:16:26,778 --> 00:16:29,823
For others, they'll buy the ones
that they like the most.

308
00:16:29,864 --> 00:16:34,034
And they will spend our in-game
digital currency called Riot
Points.

309
00:16:34,076 --> 00:16:37,580
One of the other big items
that we sell in the game are
skins.

310
00:16:37,622 --> 00:16:40,333
Skins are a uniform.

311
00:16:40,374 --> 00:16:41,668
[man]
Because the game is free,

312
00:16:41,709 --> 00:16:43,628
because people get so much value
out of it,

313
00:16:43,670 --> 00:16:47,256
our players are like,
"Yeah, I'll pay for that skin.

314
00:16:47,298 --> 00:16:51,511
It's kind of a silly idea, but
I'm more than happy to pay for
an outfit.

315
00:16:51,552 --> 00:16:53,387
I'll spend my five,
ten dollars, whatever,

316
00:16:53,429 --> 00:16:56,599
because I had a thousand hours
of fun in this game."

317
00:16:56,933 --> 00:17:00,561
[Enock] About a week before we
got to the launch date,

318
00:17:00,603 --> 00:17:03,648
people came into the game
and tried out the store

319
00:17:03,690 --> 00:17:06,359
and the store
immediately fell over.

320
00:17:08,110 --> 00:17:10,530
Literally we get 500 people in,

321
00:17:10,571 --> 00:17:13,658
as we're scaling up to a couple
thousand in a scale test, store
falls over.

322
00:17:13,700 --> 00:17:16,619
We're sitting there
and watching the public chat
channel

323
00:17:16,661 --> 00:17:20,915
and one guy had gotten through
the store and had bought Cho
-Gath.

324
00:17:20,957 --> 00:17:22,500
[character laughs]

325
00:17:22,542 --> 00:17:25,419
And he was like, "No worries,
guys, I got my man Cho.

326
00:17:25,461 --> 00:17:27,213
It's all good." [chuckles]

327
00:17:27,254 --> 00:17:29,841
It was like one guy out of like
5,000 or something,

328
00:17:29,883 --> 00:17:33,177
and I was like, "Oh, this is
bad. This is really bad."

329
00:17:33,219 --> 00:17:35,596
There was no store in the game.
There was no way to make money.

330
00:17:35,638 --> 00:17:38,641
We would be paying
all the infrastructure costs

331
00:17:38,683 --> 00:17:40,601
and having all the
players in the game,

332
00:17:40,643 --> 00:17:43,062
but without a way for them
to unlock any content.

333
00:17:43,103 --> 00:17:47,191
And so that was when we decided,
let's think through this as
players.

334
00:17:47,233 --> 00:17:51,529
If we were a player,
what would we want to happen to
us?

335
00:17:51,571 --> 00:17:56,158
And so as gamers we decided,
let's make everything free.

336
00:17:56,492 --> 00:17:58,995
[Snow] We called it a launch
party like, "Hey, we've
launched!"

337
00:17:59,037 --> 00:18:01,372
When in the background
you had like half the company

338
00:18:01,414 --> 00:18:02,832
trying to build a store.

339
00:18:02,874 --> 00:18:05,334
And after locking ourselves
in a room for, you know,

340
00:18:05,376 --> 00:18:10,840
110 hours a week for about six
weeks, uh, we ended up shipping
the store.

341
00:18:10,882 --> 00:18:13,217
[Snow] We brought the system
down November 18th

342
00:18:13,259 --> 00:18:15,762
and we brought it
back up November 19th.

343
00:18:15,803 --> 00:18:18,097
This right here is Riot Games
history.

344
00:18:18,138 --> 00:18:23,352
But we're like, staring at the
screen and it's blank for like
two minutes.

345
00:18:23,394 --> 00:18:27,189
And then lo and behold
this little blip shows up for
five bucks.

346
00:18:27,231 --> 00:18:29,191
[all cheering]

347
00:18:29,233 --> 00:18:32,570
And so we're like,
"It works, it works. It totally
works!"

348
00:18:33,905 --> 00:18:36,657
And that was the launch
of League of Legends .

349
00:18:44,999 --> 00:18:47,627
-[chanting]
-[woman groans]

350
00:18:50,463 --> 00:18:53,424
[Beck]
League was not an instant
success.

351
00:18:54,467 --> 00:18:55,802
It wasn't like we
launched the game

352
00:18:55,843 --> 00:18:58,345
and then suddenly our numbers
went through the roof.

353
00:18:58,679 --> 00:19:01,432
It was marginally
bigger than the day before,

354
00:19:01,474 --> 00:19:05,185
and the next day was just
marginally bigger than the prior
day.

355
00:19:05,436 --> 00:19:07,605
To tell you the truth,
when I first saw this game,

356
00:19:07,647 --> 00:19:10,483
I thought it was lame.
I thought it was boring.

357
00:19:10,524 --> 00:19:14,528
I looked at the game
and it didn't really appeal to
me.

358
00:19:14,570 --> 00:19:16,739
After the three hour download
and patching,

359
00:19:16,781 --> 00:19:18,658
we got onto League and he was
like, "Dude, just play it,"

360
00:19:18,699 --> 00:19:20,576
and I begrudgingly agreed.

361
00:19:20,952 --> 00:19:23,913
There's kind of this saying
in game dev that

362
00:19:23,955 --> 00:19:26,457
the game developers
are the best at the games

363
00:19:26,499 --> 00:19:30,003
until about a week
after it gets released to the
players.

364
00:19:30,044 --> 00:19:34,757
Once you reach just so many
people, they quickly are the
ones that discover

365
00:19:34,799 --> 00:19:37,384
all the things
that you never knew were there.

366
00:19:38,011 --> 00:19:39,804
[Jatt]
When I first started playing the
game,

367
00:19:39,846 --> 00:19:42,056
a lot of people thought the
company was a dumpster fire.

368
00:19:42,098 --> 00:19:45,434
You log on Tuesday afternoon,
can't play, servers are down.

369
00:19:45,476 --> 00:19:48,146
The store is down again.
I crashed out again.

370
00:19:48,187 --> 00:19:49,689
Oh, the client's full of bugs.

371
00:19:49,730 --> 00:19:51,440
[man]
It was certainly stressful.

372
00:19:51,482 --> 00:19:53,985
People were running around
with their hair on fire a lot of
the time

373
00:19:54,027 --> 00:19:57,404
as we were attempting to sort
of, keep the wheels on the car.

374
00:19:57,446 --> 00:20:01,408
Any time anything went wrong was
like, "Oh, my God, fix this shit
right now!

375
00:20:01,450 --> 00:20:03,161
We can't lose this momentum!"

376
00:20:03,202 --> 00:20:06,205
It was a problem
where the servers were
overloaded,

377
00:20:06,246 --> 00:20:07,874
but no one would log off.

378
00:20:07,915 --> 00:20:11,377
There was this real sense
of blink and you'll miss it.

379
00:20:11,418 --> 00:20:16,007
So it was sort of the players
fighting the game as much as
each other.

380
00:20:17,591 --> 00:20:20,011
[Marshall] Things slowly started
to stabilize in North America.

381
00:20:20,053 --> 00:20:21,637
They were way worse in Europe.

382
00:20:21,679 --> 00:20:23,848
European fans were furious.

383
00:20:25,808 --> 00:20:28,019
[Merrill]
In Europe, we weren't really
growing.

384
00:20:28,061 --> 00:20:31,064
The reason is because we were
publishing League of Legends
through a partner

385
00:20:31,105 --> 00:20:34,942
that had misaligned interests
and weren't trying to operate
the game

386
00:20:34,984 --> 00:20:36,694
in the same way that really care
about the players.

387
00:20:36,736 --> 00:20:39,155
And that culminated
in one particular weekend

388
00:20:39,197 --> 00:20:41,908
where on a Friday
the service went down

389
00:20:41,949 --> 00:20:46,162
at like 11:45, 11:50
local time in France

390
00:20:46,204 --> 00:20:50,457
and we actually can't get anyone
that will restart the servers

391
00:20:50,499 --> 00:20:52,085
until Monday morning.

392
00:20:52,126 --> 00:20:53,961
It looks fine on the screen,
guys, but trust me, it's not.

393
00:20:54,003 --> 00:20:56,380
I'm clicking like a maniac
and it's not working for me.

394
00:20:56,422 --> 00:20:59,675
Attack. Attack that one!

395
00:20:59,717 --> 00:21:02,261
Oh, my goodness, gracious me.

396
00:21:02,302 --> 00:21:04,513
I get on the forums
with the European players

397
00:21:04,555 --> 00:21:06,599
and just start to see
people complaining.

398
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:08,851
People are just
scrambling and upset,

399
00:21:08,893 --> 00:21:11,979
and from the player perspective,
Riot doesn't care.

400
00:21:12,021 --> 00:21:16,442
The players don't care about the
nuances between partners and
other stuff.

401
00:21:16,483 --> 00:21:18,444
Someone's got to be there.

402
00:21:19,112 --> 00:21:21,739
Like, "Hey guys, I know this is
bad, but I'm here."

403
00:21:21,781 --> 00:21:24,324
And every 15, 20 minutes like,
"Here's an update.

404
00:21:24,366 --> 00:21:26,160
Here's an update.
Here's an update."

405
00:21:26,452 --> 00:21:29,122
And when that doesn't happen,
the imagination runs wild.

406
00:21:29,163 --> 00:21:33,000
People start to make up stuff
and it just goes south really
fast.

407
00:21:35,836 --> 00:21:37,797
[Snow] When you're looking
at that kind of data,

408
00:21:37,838 --> 00:21:41,425
you realize that the fundamental
belief that players are human
beings

409
00:21:41,467 --> 00:21:43,219
that deserve to be
treated with respect,

410
00:21:43,261 --> 00:21:45,221
and our partner
doesn't share it,

411
00:21:45,263 --> 00:21:48,515
that-- That's just-- It's not--
It wasn't going to work.

412
00:21:48,557 --> 00:21:51,144
We were very fortunate in being
able to unwind that deal

413
00:21:51,185 --> 00:21:52,979
and then launch Riot Europe.

414
00:21:53,020 --> 00:21:54,981
[keys clacking]

415
00:21:55,898 --> 00:21:58,776
We had exactly 53 days between
the moment we hand-shaked

416
00:21:58,818 --> 00:22:03,114
and the moment they were going
to stop servicing the game to
find a data center,

417
00:22:03,156 --> 00:22:06,284
set up an entity, hire people,
catch up localization,

418
00:22:06,325 --> 00:22:09,411
build up a website,
setting up the whole thing.

419
00:22:09,453 --> 00:22:14,333
And 53 days later, over a
weekend, we transferred the
service.

420
00:22:14,374 --> 00:22:16,794
While we were doing the
transfer, the volcano went off.

421
00:22:16,836 --> 00:22:18,754
[rumbling]

422
00:22:18,796 --> 00:22:23,676
Tonight, travelers are stranded
in all on six continents.

423
00:22:23,717 --> 00:22:29,849
Volcanic ash has caused the
worst disruption in air travel
since 9/11.

424
00:22:29,890 --> 00:22:34,312
[Snow] So the volcano blows in
Iceland, sending soot all across
Europe,

425
00:22:34,352 --> 00:22:36,230
canceling all the flights,

426
00:22:36,272 --> 00:22:39,859
literally two days before I'm
supposed to transfer the
service.

427
00:22:39,900 --> 00:22:44,780
So I had to plan all these
alternate flight routes to get
hardware in.

428
00:22:44,822 --> 00:22:49,702
We were flying stuff through
Africa and then up around the
Middle East

429
00:22:49,743 --> 00:22:53,580
to come in to Germany from the
ea-- Like, it was insane.

430
00:22:54,123 --> 00:22:57,335
[beeps, whirring]

431
00:22:58,418 --> 00:23:00,129
So, when we took
over the service,

432
00:23:00,171 --> 00:23:05,218
North America was
about 18% bigger than Europe

433
00:23:05,259 --> 00:23:07,261
and within three months

434
00:23:07,303 --> 00:23:10,097
Europe was nine percent
bigger than North America,

435
00:23:10,139 --> 00:23:12,225
and it was growing faster.

436
00:23:14,101 --> 00:23:18,356
After we launched in Europe, we
realized we can do a pretty good
job by ourselves.

437
00:23:18,396 --> 00:23:23,069
This is actually what our
players want. They want a direct
relationship with Riot.

438
00:23:23,777 --> 00:23:27,948
The biggest thing that we did
very early was establishing the
forums

439
00:23:27,990 --> 00:23:31,160
as being a really important
conversation and communication

440
00:23:31,202 --> 00:23:33,287
that we would have with players

441
00:23:33,329 --> 00:23:34,705
and that players
would have with each other,

442
00:23:34,747 --> 00:23:38,125
actively asking questions,
generating content.

443
00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:44,882
[Merrill] Season One was the
introduction of ranked ladders,
competitive play.

444
00:23:44,924 --> 00:23:47,385
Prior to that time the game
was all about playing normal
games.

445
00:23:47,425 --> 00:23:48,761
There was no stat tracking.

446
00:23:48,802 --> 00:23:50,971
When ranked entered the scene,
all of a sudden,

447
00:23:51,013 --> 00:23:54,350
that's where players who really
wanted to test their competitive
mettle

448
00:23:54,392 --> 00:23:56,685
had an opportunity in the game
to go play against each other.

449
00:23:56,727 --> 00:23:59,105
Let it ride, baby!
Let it ride. Boom!

450
00:23:59,146 --> 00:24:02,816
Season One was our first
experiment in Esports.

451
00:24:04,318 --> 00:24:07,529
They were just sort of like one
-off tournaments with a random
set of teams

452
00:24:07,571 --> 00:24:11,158
that were willing and able to
show up and often the whole
tournament

453
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,451
would be played over the course
of a day or two.

454
00:24:13,493 --> 00:24:16,122
And that meant a lot
of back to back to back games,

455
00:24:16,163 --> 00:24:19,583
which was also, in some cases,
tedious to watch.

456
00:24:20,084 --> 00:24:23,503
And so the Season One finals
was going to be our attempt

457
00:24:23,545 --> 00:24:26,506
to wrap that loose season
altogether and crown a winner,

458
00:24:26,548 --> 00:24:28,466
and we wanted to
do it at DreamHack,

459
00:24:28,508 --> 00:24:31,511
because DreamHack was the
biggest LAN party in the world.

460
00:24:31,553 --> 00:24:34,681
[techno music playing]

461
00:24:37,143 --> 00:24:39,477
[Banks]
DreamHack is this really cool
event

462
00:24:39,519 --> 00:24:42,940
where they take
these old aircraft hangers.

463
00:24:42,982 --> 00:24:47,194
There's like 20,000 or 30,000
kids all playing games.

464
00:24:47,236 --> 00:24:49,155
The tables are built
out of like pallets

465
00:24:49,196 --> 00:24:51,324
and they bring their own
equipment and chairs.

466
00:24:51,365 --> 00:24:53,575
It's one of the coolest gaming
events in the world.

467
00:24:55,077 --> 00:24:56,870
[man] Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome back to the Elmia
convention center,

468
00:24:56,912 --> 00:24:58,456
Jönköping, Sweden.

469
00:24:58,496 --> 00:25:00,874
We are here for the DreamHack
Summer 2011 championship game.

470
00:25:00,916 --> 00:25:02,835
The final's about
to go underway,

471
00:25:02,876 --> 00:25:05,754
$100,000 tournament held
by League of Legends and Riot
Games.

472
00:25:05,796 --> 00:25:08,548
[Beck]
Four hundred thousand people
tuned in

473
00:25:08,590 --> 00:25:10,968
to watch the finals of Season
One at DreamHack,

474
00:25:11,010 --> 00:25:12,886
which blew our minds.

475
00:25:12,928 --> 00:25:14,930
[Riv]
There it is. First blood.

476
00:25:15,973 --> 00:25:18,309
And it looks like it is going to
be Jarvan falling down Shueshei.

477
00:25:18,351 --> 00:25:20,353
[woman]
It was so interesting to see

478
00:25:20,394 --> 00:25:24,398
this untapped, like,
just world of potential

479
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,651
where the fans were passionate
and they were fans of the game,

480
00:25:27,693 --> 00:25:30,946
but like, now they're also fans
of people playing the game.

481
00:25:30,988 --> 00:25:32,781
[Phreak] One turret's down,
they're gonna back off.

482
00:25:32,823 --> 00:25:34,574
Linak taking
a lot of damage from Ashe.

483
00:25:34,616 --> 00:25:37,036
Three hundred damage, that is
one turret dead, second turret
dead.

484
00:25:37,077 --> 00:25:38,996
-[Riv] Oh, my!
-[Phreak] Fnatic going to win

485
00:25:39,038 --> 00:25:40,873
the Season One championship!

486
00:25:40,914 --> 00:25:43,917
Congratulations to Fnatic
for winning Season One.

487
00:25:43,959 --> 00:25:46,544
-GG.
-[Riv] GG indeed.

488
00:25:46,586 --> 00:25:48,297
[all cheering]

489
00:25:48,339 --> 00:25:50,883
[Merrill] When Fnatic won,
people were super happy

490
00:25:50,924 --> 00:25:55,137
to see these players that have a
career being birthed.

491
00:25:55,762 --> 00:25:57,806
When did you know
that you had won?

492
00:25:57,848 --> 00:26:01,060
-A moment ago when their Nexus
exploded! -[woman laughs]

493
00:26:01,101 --> 00:26:04,480
[commentator] What are you guys
going do with your hard-earned
cash?

494
00:26:04,522 --> 00:26:07,191
I want to like, throw a big
party for all my friends at
home.

495
00:26:07,233 --> 00:26:08,775
[crowd cheering]

496
00:26:08,817 --> 00:26:11,695
[Beck] It was a clear indicator
that the level of interest

497
00:26:11,737 --> 00:26:14,614
within our community
around Esports was really high.

498
00:26:14,656 --> 00:26:19,453
I don't think
that's ever felt like the norm.

499
00:26:19,495 --> 00:26:22,873
At the same time, we were keenly
aware of what was going on in
Korea.

500
00:26:22,915 --> 00:26:24,958
[music playing]

501
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,378
[man] By the mid-2000s,

502
00:26:28,462 --> 00:26:31,715
digital stadiums were built in
Korea for playing Starcraft .

503
00:26:31,757 --> 00:26:34,760
Full-sized stadiums,
full of people screaming.

504
00:26:34,801 --> 00:26:40,099
Starcraft is a game
where you are not on the field.

505
00:26:40,140 --> 00:26:42,560
You're playing like the coach
of a football game.

506
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:44,728
You're directing Xs and Os.

507
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:51,818
But one of the things about
League is that it has an easier
entry ramp.

508
00:26:51,860 --> 00:26:57,157
It's easier to pay attention to
the antics of one unit, and one
unit, and one unit,

509
00:26:57,199 --> 00:26:59,868
instead of a battlefield
with 10,000 units.

510
00:26:59,910 --> 00:27:03,080
It's hard to follow the action
if you're not trained.

511
00:27:03,830 --> 00:27:05,958
When we look at early Esports,

512
00:27:05,999 --> 00:27:08,335
part of the reason
that they took off in Korea

513
00:27:08,377 --> 00:27:11,505
is because Korea
is a small country

514
00:27:11,547 --> 00:27:16,802
that is dense and so it was
wired with high speed Internet.

515
00:27:16,843 --> 00:27:20,473
Far higher speed Internet
than we have in the United
States.

516
00:27:20,514 --> 00:27:22,600
Because the population is dense,

517
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:26,103
the idea that people
could just go downstairs

518
00:27:26,145 --> 00:27:29,148
to the local Internet cafes.
That was a thing.

519
00:27:30,732 --> 00:27:35,613
PC gamers view Korea
as sort of the Mecca of PC
gaming,

520
00:27:35,653 --> 00:27:39,408
where PC gaming is mainstream
and where everybody gets it.

521
00:27:39,450 --> 00:27:42,869
You know you can have an
airliner that's painted with
Starcraft 2 logo

522
00:27:42,911 --> 00:27:45,747
and that's okay,
and it makes sense.

523
00:27:46,706 --> 00:27:50,752
That's just a phenomenally cool
place to be as a gamer.

524
00:27:51,669 --> 00:27:53,422
[keys clacking]

525
00:27:53,464 --> 00:27:57,551
The competition in Korea
is extremely severe.

526
00:27:57,593 --> 00:28:00,262
I would say the most severe
in the entire world

527
00:28:00,304 --> 00:28:02,889
if you look at just
online games alone.

528
00:28:05,643 --> 00:28:09,729
There are 200 to 400 new games
that are published each year

529
00:28:09,771 --> 00:28:11,524
on top of the 200 to 400 games

530
00:28:11,565 --> 00:28:15,777
that are already actively
being operated in the market.

531
00:28:16,069 --> 00:28:19,823
[Peterscheck] They also play
pretty much only online PC games

532
00:28:19,865 --> 00:28:21,825
and they're almost
all free-to-play.

533
00:28:21,867 --> 00:28:24,620
So, when we go to Korea, the
novelty of League of Legends in
the West,

534
00:28:24,662 --> 00:28:26,622
which is that it's free
to play online PC game,

535
00:28:26,664 --> 00:28:27,998
that's nonexistent in Korea.

536
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,584
Everybody has that.
So, what else you got?

537
00:28:33,212 --> 00:28:36,756
[in Korean]
Cheers ring out from the League
of Legends press conference.

538
00:28:36,798 --> 00:28:39,968
These people are not your
average individuals.

539
00:28:40,010 --> 00:28:43,556
I just want to say hi to all the
League of Legends fans out the
there in Korea.

540
00:28:43,597 --> 00:28:46,892
We're getting ready to provide
a phenomenal quality of service

541
00:28:46,933 --> 00:28:49,311
and bring the game
here to Korea.

542
00:28:49,353 --> 00:28:51,855
[in Korean]
I thought it was just lip
service,

543
00:28:51,897 --> 00:28:54,066
a marketing policy to be
successful in Korea.

544
00:28:54,107 --> 00:28:58,028
But it wasn't that. It was
really sincere.

545
00:28:58,612 --> 00:29:00,864
The Korean players as well,

546
00:29:00,906 --> 00:29:04,535
were able to feel a lot of
sincerity from Riot Games.

547
00:29:04,577 --> 00:29:06,828
[in Korean]
League of Legends, AOS

548
00:29:06,870 --> 00:29:09,623
[Peterscheck] The newest game
on the top ten list in Korea

549
00:29:09,665 --> 00:29:13,085
before we launched was
like three and a half, four
years old.

550
00:29:13,126 --> 00:29:15,588
So very few of these games
ever crack the top ten.

551
00:29:15,629 --> 00:29:19,049
Most go up and then go into
obscurity very, very quickly.

552
00:29:19,091 --> 00:29:24,930
So we finally launched, and on
day six, we break it into top
ten,

553
00:29:25,264 --> 00:29:29,893
and we were looking at ourselves
thinking, "Holy cow, did this
really happen?"

554
00:29:30,477 --> 00:29:33,939
And the next thing we know
after three months,

555
00:29:33,980 --> 00:29:36,191
it's the number
one game in Korea.

556
00:29:42,573 --> 00:29:46,076
[Oh] To the Korean gamers,
it was very different.

557
00:29:46,118 --> 00:29:49,204
It had qualities of competition,

558
00:29:49,246 --> 00:29:52,040
qualities of strategy,
qualities of speed

559
00:29:52,082 --> 00:29:56,128
and so many components
that a lot of gamers really
truly enjoy.

560
00:29:57,296 --> 00:29:59,757
[Peterscheck]
I think there's cultural
universals.

561
00:29:59,798 --> 00:30:02,134
People want social competition.

562
00:30:02,175 --> 00:30:04,470
As the game grows,

563
00:30:04,511 --> 00:30:06,472
it creates this
positive feedback loop

564
00:30:06,513 --> 00:30:08,265
where more and more people
know about it,

565
00:30:08,307 --> 00:30:10,976
which means more and more people
want to know how to play it,

566
00:30:11,017 --> 00:30:13,395
so they can compete.

567
00:30:13,437 --> 00:30:14,938
[Cadwell] There has to be
something about the game

568
00:30:14,980 --> 00:30:16,732
that continues to be rewarding.

569
00:30:16,774 --> 00:30:19,693
For League of Legends , that's
mastery, the pursuit of mastery.

570
00:30:19,735 --> 00:30:23,280
Knowing I'm getting better,
spending effort to pursue
getting better,

571
00:30:23,322 --> 00:30:26,366
feeling rewarded
when I have gotten better.

572
00:30:28,410 --> 00:30:31,789
Those are experiences that are
appealing regardless of what
culture you're in.

573
00:30:31,830 --> 00:30:34,625
["Dance of the Sugar
Plum Fairy" playing]

574
00:30:35,917 --> 00:30:38,629
[Koster] Tetris resonated
across all the cultures in the
world.

575
00:30:38,671 --> 00:30:42,007
So it got that part.
But it wasn't sport-like.

576
00:30:42,048 --> 00:30:45,177
The biggest thing that makes
a sport is spectators.

577
00:30:45,218 --> 00:30:48,305
League of Legends
is what's gotten me into
Esports.

578
00:30:48,347 --> 00:30:52,309
There are people cheering out
there and really rooting for
these pro teams

579
00:30:52,351 --> 00:30:53,686
and League of Legends has really

580
00:30:53,727 --> 00:30:55,979
just come a long way
in a short amount of time.

581
00:30:56,021 --> 00:30:59,817
I wanted to watch the LCS,
uh, the finals so bad

582
00:30:59,858 --> 00:31:03,195
because it was really something
cool to me.

583
00:31:05,905 --> 00:31:07,741
[Merrill] After the
Season 1 finals,

584
00:31:07,783 --> 00:31:11,203
I think everybody at Riot was
buzzing from the reaction from
players

585
00:31:11,244 --> 00:31:13,789
and really started to challenge
ourselves to think about, okay,

586
00:31:13,831 --> 00:31:17,292
what does Esports look like for
Riot and for League of Legends ?

587
00:31:17,876 --> 00:31:19,919
[man] We knew it was
going to be a big undertaking.

588
00:31:19,961 --> 00:31:22,715
We had no road map.
We had a really small focused
team,

589
00:31:22,756 --> 00:31:27,553
but it wasn't a team that had
much prior knowledge in
broadcast.

590
00:31:27,594 --> 00:31:30,013
How do we officially get
started? Are you going to be
kicking us off here?

591
00:31:30,055 --> 00:31:32,516
I believe you have the chat
prompt so if you want to tell
them to start.

592
00:31:32,558 --> 00:31:34,267
Uh, I don't have
chat right here.

593
00:31:34,309 --> 00:31:36,729
[Dustin Beck] When you think of
NFL, you think of Sunday
football.

594
00:31:36,770 --> 00:31:39,606
You think of marquee matchups
on Monday night.

595
00:31:39,648 --> 00:31:40,982
And Esports didn't
really have that.

596
00:31:41,024 --> 00:31:43,026
It was these intermittent
quarterly tournaments

597
00:31:43,068 --> 00:31:44,695
that had no real rhyme
or reason on timing.

598
00:31:44,737 --> 00:31:47,656
It was when's the venue
going to be available.

599
00:31:48,031 --> 00:31:50,450
[man] As a player, I had
watched League of Legends
Esports

600
00:31:50,492 --> 00:31:53,746
since the Season One
competitions at DreamHack.

601
00:31:53,787 --> 00:31:56,373
And at the time my impression
of League of Legends
tournaments,

602
00:31:56,415 --> 00:31:59,084
honestly, is that
they were very unreliable.

603
00:31:59,125 --> 00:32:00,794
-Why are you yelling at me?
-[man] Are you live?

604
00:32:00,836 --> 00:32:02,629
Yes, we're live!
Stop yelling at me.

605
00:32:02,671 --> 00:32:04,631
-Yeah.
-Frickin' A.

606
00:32:05,465 --> 00:32:07,967
[Rozelle]
This is just not worthy of a
fan's time.

607
00:32:08,009 --> 00:32:12,681
We knew at that point we wanted
to create a formal league.

608
00:32:12,723 --> 00:32:16,184
[Dustin] We built out what we
thought the LCS could be.

609
00:32:16,226 --> 00:32:19,605
We knew it needed a consistent
schedule of events,

610
00:32:19,646 --> 00:32:24,484
a weekly regular season with a
playoffs, with a World Final
event.

611
00:32:24,526 --> 00:32:26,653
[man] You're a little fuzzy.
Are you using wireless?

612
00:32:26,695 --> 00:32:28,864
I am using wireless.
Do you want me to plug it in? O
a--

613
00:32:28,906 --> 00:32:30,490
-If you could, that would be
neat. -Yeah.

614
00:32:30,532 --> 00:32:31,575
-Yeah, hold on.
-[keys clacking]

615
00:32:31,617 --> 00:32:33,993
[man] I remember meeting Whalen.

616
00:32:34,035 --> 00:32:37,289
I told him like, I'm really
worried about what you guys are
doing here.

617
00:32:37,330 --> 00:32:39,124
There are all these tournaments
and you're gonna start

618
00:32:39,165 --> 00:32:41,251
to formalize it all into this.

619
00:32:42,127 --> 00:32:43,962
Are people going to tune in
every single week to watch this?

620
00:32:44,003 --> 00:32:46,214
If you're talking about
like scrapping the whole thing
and going,

621
00:32:46,256 --> 00:32:48,133
yeah, this Esports thing,
I don't know so much about it.

622
00:32:48,174 --> 00:32:50,218
We're strongly committed
to Esports at Riot.

623
00:32:50,260 --> 00:32:53,430
So this is-- This is a thing
and it's going to be around.

624
00:32:53,472 --> 00:32:56,975
[Beck] Esports enhances
the experience of being a
player.

625
00:32:57,016 --> 00:33:00,562
You have something to aspire to.
Players enjoy watching the game.

626
00:33:00,604 --> 00:33:02,940
That's really the
perspective that we take

627
00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:05,442
that makes the most sense
for sort of justifying the
investment.

628
00:33:05,484 --> 00:33:07,778
But, we definitely like,
don't have that crystal ball.

629
00:33:07,820 --> 00:33:09,905
We're going to sort
of learn as we go.

630
00:33:10,530 --> 00:33:13,992
When Riot came out
and announced the huge things

631
00:33:14,033 --> 00:33:15,494
that they were going
to do in Esports,

632
00:33:15,535 --> 00:33:18,246
everyone was really,
really skeptical.

633
00:33:18,288 --> 00:33:21,875
We're thinking this was
too big, too much, too fast.

634
00:33:21,917 --> 00:33:24,878
It was going to be a disaster.
It was going to fail.

635
00:33:25,295 --> 00:33:29,758
[Rozelle] We really laid the
foundation for what would
eventually become the LCS,

636
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,093
but first we actually had to get
through the end of Season Two

637
00:33:32,135 --> 00:33:34,304
and ensuring that
we ended strongly

638
00:33:34,346 --> 00:33:35,764
with a good World Championship.

639
00:33:35,806 --> 00:33:38,475
[crowd cheering]

640
00:33:43,313 --> 00:33:47,985
Season Two World Championship
was by far the biggest Esports
event

641
00:33:48,026 --> 00:33:49,402
Riot had ever put on.

642
00:33:49,444 --> 00:33:50,946
It's going to be really amazing.

643
00:33:50,988 --> 00:33:53,740
The big thing here is World
Elite has yet to be seen

644
00:33:53,782 --> 00:33:56,451
in the previous two days
of this tournament.

645
00:33:56,743 --> 00:33:58,787
[Beck] We had been having
this remarkable tournament

646
00:33:58,829 --> 00:34:02,749
and it's this really cool
setting, that was in sort of the
courtyard

647
00:34:02,791 --> 00:34:05,084
between the Staples Center
and the Nokia Center.

648
00:34:05,126 --> 00:34:06,670
Whoo!

649
00:34:06,712 --> 00:34:08,755
League of Legends number one.

650
00:34:08,797 --> 00:34:12,384
-[all yelling] Taipei Assassins!
-Whoo!

651
00:34:12,425 --> 00:34:15,846
[Beck] We're in the middle
of W.E., top team from China,

652
00:34:15,888 --> 00:34:19,599
against CLG, top team from EU.

653
00:34:19,641 --> 00:34:22,936
[man] We're CLG. We're like
a dark horse coming into the
World Finals.

654
00:34:22,978 --> 00:34:25,146
We're doing pretty well for the
year, but no one expected us

655
00:34:25,188 --> 00:34:27,607
to really get
through to the top.

656
00:34:27,649 --> 00:34:31,069
We're going into the group
stages against World Elite.

657
00:34:31,110 --> 00:34:33,864
One of the big Chinese teams
at the time.

658
00:34:34,364 --> 00:34:36,783
[host]
Only one quarterfinal matchup
remains

659
00:34:36,825 --> 00:34:41,413
before two epic semi-final
showdowns to determine who will
play for the right

660
00:34:41,454 --> 00:34:44,165
to call themselves
the Season Two World Champions.

661
00:34:44,207 --> 00:34:46,501
Ladies and gentlemen,
the final day

662
00:34:46,543 --> 00:34:49,796
of the Season Two
World Playoffs begins now.

663
00:34:49,838 --> 00:34:52,883
[Dustin] That was kind of the
peak of Esport popularity at
that point.

664
00:34:52,925 --> 00:34:56,011
Stakes were as high as they've
ever been for League of Legends
Esports,

665
00:34:56,053 --> 00:34:58,597
and we just-- We just
fell on our face.

666
00:34:58,638 --> 00:35:01,474
[crowd cheering]

667
00:35:02,935 --> 00:35:07,981
[Beck] The Season Two group
stages went from being like one
of the best days,

668
00:35:08,023 --> 00:35:13,486
-frankly ever, to one of the
worst. -[crowd cheering]

669
00:35:14,279 --> 00:35:17,198
[Dustin] Everything was going
great. Amazing team fight.

670
00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:18,742
The game was about
to be decided.

671
00:35:18,784 --> 00:35:22,788
And all of a sudden,
the Internet goes out.

672
00:35:22,829 --> 00:35:24,915
[Deman]
...I think he was grabbed.

673
00:35:24,957 --> 00:35:27,166
CaoMei's guardian angels
does get dropped!

674
00:35:27,208 --> 00:35:28,501
-Oh, my God!
-[crowd roaring]

675
00:35:28,543 --> 00:35:31,421
I do not believe
what has happened.

676
00:35:31,463 --> 00:35:34,215
You get this little blurb on
your screen "Attempting to
reconnect."

677
00:35:34,257 --> 00:35:35,634
That's bad.

678
00:35:35,675 --> 00:35:37,552
Just saw attempting to reconnect

679
00:35:37,594 --> 00:35:39,721
and teams lagged out,
players lagged out

680
00:35:39,763 --> 00:35:41,807
and everyone's
kind of up in arms.

681
00:35:41,848 --> 00:35:43,850
Like, "What the heck
just happened there?"

682
00:35:44,434 --> 00:35:46,853
[Deman]
Fifty-nine minutes, 30 seconds
gone.

683
00:35:46,895 --> 00:35:50,065
Ladies and gentlemen,
what the hell?

684
00:35:50,523 --> 00:35:53,526
Normally, like,
if there is a pause or a lag
issue,

685
00:35:53,568 --> 00:35:55,445
we can kind of fix
it at the time,

686
00:35:55,487 --> 00:35:57,530
and our guys are just
like nodding their heads like,

687
00:35:57,572 --> 00:35:59,699
"I don't think
we're going to get this back."

688
00:35:59,741 --> 00:36:03,411
So we cannot unpause it
and recreate where it left off.

689
00:36:03,453 --> 00:36:07,082
And so all the progress
into this game is lost.

690
00:36:07,124 --> 00:36:10,585
The game was pretty close at the
time. So they decide to do
another one.

691
00:36:10,627 --> 00:36:12,921
[Deman] Ladies and gentlemen,
there you can see it on your
screen.

692
00:36:12,963 --> 00:36:14,464
We are into the game.

693
00:36:14,506 --> 00:36:18,217
Let's hope for the last time
in the quarterfinals

694
00:36:18,259 --> 00:36:22,597
because I don't think anyone
here will be able to handle
another remake.

695
00:36:22,639 --> 00:36:24,474
And it happened again and again.

696
00:36:24,516 --> 00:36:27,144
[Deman] It clearly is adding up,
the amount of cheers they've
had--

697
00:36:27,185 --> 00:36:29,479
-Oh, my God.
-[crowd clamoring]

698
00:36:31,857 --> 00:36:33,650
[Jatt] I don't know
what this means.

699
00:36:33,692 --> 00:36:36,111
-Like, are we going to remake
again?
-Of course they are. We might.

700
00:36:36,153 --> 00:36:38,030
-What else are they going to do?
-It could happen.

701
00:36:38,071 --> 00:36:39,489
Imagine you're in
any prosporting game

702
00:36:39,531 --> 00:36:41,700
and you have to just start over
after you're sweating

703
00:36:41,741 --> 00:36:44,036
and you're out there for 30
minutes. That's what happened.

704
00:36:44,077 --> 00:36:47,706
A typical League of Legends game
should go on for about maybe 35
minutes

705
00:36:47,747 --> 00:36:50,917
to 45 minutes, an hour at most.

706
00:36:50,959 --> 00:36:54,629
We played this one game
in the group stages for seven
hours.

707
00:36:54,671 --> 00:36:56,715
No matter how long
League of Legends Esports goes,

708
00:36:56,756 --> 00:36:59,176
if it grows on for ten years
and becomes bigger than the
Super Bowl,

709
00:36:59,217 --> 00:37:01,386
all those things,
everyone who was here will be
like,

710
00:37:01,427 --> 00:37:04,556
"Remember when they had
a seven hour best of three,"

711
00:37:04,597 --> 00:37:07,308
and everyone will know
what they're talking about.

712
00:37:07,350 --> 00:37:11,021
And we're sitting on stage
saying, "Riot, is this game
going to happen?"

713
00:37:11,063 --> 00:37:13,606
Where is the competitive
integrity? Where is all this
other stuff?

714
00:37:13,648 --> 00:37:16,902
These teams were playing.
What are you going to do about
it?

715
00:37:17,318 --> 00:37:20,321
[Beck] Eventually, we just
decide, you know, we got to pull
the plug.

716
00:37:20,363 --> 00:37:22,323
We had to send our audience home

717
00:37:22,365 --> 00:37:25,869
without having finished the
group stages, even though they
purchased tickets.

718
00:37:25,911 --> 00:37:27,662
We were so disappointed
in ourselves.

719
00:37:27,704 --> 00:37:29,748
Like we were-- We had just--

720
00:37:29,789 --> 00:37:33,043
We'd built up this huge event
and we just like let everyone
down.

721
00:37:33,085 --> 00:37:35,045
[crowd clamoring]

722
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,260
[Jatt] It was the biggest
tournament. It was a high
profile failure.

723
00:37:42,301 --> 00:37:47,224
That's something that could
totally alter the course of Riot
Esports.

724
00:37:50,102 --> 00:37:53,688
First step was letting our fans
know and Brandon bit the bullet
on that one.

725
00:37:53,730 --> 00:37:57,025
And he's like, "I'm going to go
out there and talk to everyone."

726
00:37:57,067 --> 00:38:00,070
It kills us to have
to deliver this news

727
00:38:00,112 --> 00:38:03,698
because you guys have been
so unbelievably patient with us,

728
00:38:03,740 --> 00:38:06,952
but let me explain
exactly what's going on.

729
00:38:06,993 --> 00:38:10,705
We've been having a myriad
of Internet connectivity issues.

730
00:38:10,747 --> 00:38:13,792
Given what these players
have been through so far today,

731
00:38:13,833 --> 00:38:18,046
we think the possibility
of another restart on a game

732
00:38:18,088 --> 00:38:19,881
would just be unfair to them.

733
00:38:19,923 --> 00:38:22,134
We recognize the sacrifice

734
00:38:22,175 --> 00:38:25,053
that you guys have made
being patient with us today.

735
00:38:25,095 --> 00:38:28,306
I want to talk about what we're
going to do for you guys, the
live audience.

736
00:38:28,347 --> 00:38:30,892
We're going to be refunding
your tickets.

737
00:38:30,934 --> 00:38:33,352
I'm sure you don't care about
that. We're going to be
refunding your tickets.

738
00:38:33,394 --> 00:38:36,773
We're going to be giving you
guys $25 in Riot Points.

739
00:38:36,815 --> 00:38:39,109
[crowd cheering]

740
00:38:45,406 --> 00:38:46,783
One more thing.

741
00:38:46,825 --> 00:38:49,744
We also have
a merchandise store full of
stuff

742
00:38:49,786 --> 00:38:51,913
and we want to give that
to you guys, too, for free.

743
00:38:51,955 --> 00:38:54,332
[crowd cheering]

744
00:38:55,083 --> 00:38:56,876
[Vu]
At that point we open up the
merch store.

745
00:38:56,918 --> 00:39:00,046
We said everybody can get,
you know, merch for free.

746
00:39:00,088 --> 00:39:02,966
We ordered pizza for all the
people who were staying there.

747
00:39:03,008 --> 00:39:06,011
I want to just one more time,
we're so sorry about this.

748
00:39:06,052 --> 00:39:07,887
Literally, we've been
scrambling like crazy.

749
00:39:07,929 --> 00:39:10,765
We've been having so much fun.

750
00:39:10,807 --> 00:39:12,809
-Thank you.
-[crowd cheering]

751
00:39:12,851 --> 00:39:16,688
And they start to chant, Riot.

752
00:39:16,938 --> 00:39:21,860
[all chanting]
Riot! Riot! Riot!

753
00:39:21,901 --> 00:39:26,698
[Beck] They were actually,
remarkably understanding at the
end.

754
00:39:26,739 --> 00:39:29,117
That felt amazing.

755
00:39:29,659 --> 00:39:32,204
[Dustin] Our ops team built
an offline server.

756
00:39:32,245 --> 00:39:34,206
They ripped a server out
of our data center

757
00:39:34,247 --> 00:39:37,167
and made it so that the Internet
can no longer mess with our
tournaments.

758
00:39:37,209 --> 00:39:40,128
And then that kind of fueled us
into Galen Center,

759
00:39:40,170 --> 00:39:43,256
which was a couple days later
for the live event for the
finals.

760
00:39:43,298 --> 00:39:44,924
Rivington the Third
here coming to you

761
00:39:44,966 --> 00:39:48,094
live from USC's Galen Center
in Los Angeles.

762
00:39:48,136 --> 00:39:50,180
Guys, let's take a moment to go
behind the scenes

763
00:39:50,222 --> 00:39:53,225
and just see what's going
into the production of the world
finals.

764
00:39:53,266 --> 00:39:55,143
Right now, the grand final stage

765
00:39:55,185 --> 00:39:57,645
in the process of being built
in preparation

766
00:39:57,687 --> 00:40:01,774
for the League of Legends Season
Two World Finals.

767
00:40:05,945 --> 00:40:07,822
[crowd applauding]

768
00:40:08,406 --> 00:40:09,532
[commentator]
TPA was in the driver's seat.

769
00:40:09,574 --> 00:40:11,951
Toyz was on Oriana yet again

770
00:40:11,993 --> 00:40:15,454
and his shock wave into
Stanley's taunt gave them
complete control,

771
00:40:15,496 --> 00:40:19,251
locking up two members of Azubu
leading to a Baron.

772
00:40:19,959 --> 00:40:22,087
Not playing
like the underdog any longer,

773
00:40:22,128 --> 00:40:24,923
the Taipei Assassins
push their way to the Nexus

774
00:40:24,964 --> 00:40:29,552
defeating Azubu Frost to become
the Season Two World Champions.

775
00:40:29,594 --> 00:40:32,430
Against all odds they take home
one million dollars,

776
00:40:32,471 --> 00:40:35,725
the Summoner's Cup and the righ
to be called champions of the
world.

777
00:40:35,767 --> 00:40:38,477
[crowd cheering]

778
00:40:44,567 --> 00:40:49,281
[all chanting]
TPA! TPA! TPA!

779
00:40:50,115 --> 00:40:53,576
[Beck] Our own naiveté was
actually an advantage in those
early years.

780
00:40:53,618 --> 00:40:56,621
We never really felt
like it was going to be real,

781
00:40:56,662 --> 00:40:58,748
like, more than sort
of like a dream,

782
00:40:58,790 --> 00:41:02,085
but players were just showing up
en masse and filling all the
seats,

783
00:41:02,127 --> 00:41:04,587
and it felt justified.

784
00:41:04,629 --> 00:41:07,424
It didn't feel like we were
being extravagant or crazy.

785
00:41:07,465 --> 00:41:09,801
It felt like, we can do this.

786
00:41:09,842 --> 00:41:12,220
And then the question became,
"How the heck do we pull it off?

787
00:41:12,262 --> 00:41:15,181
Like, how do we broadcast this?"

788
00:41:19,894 --> 00:41:22,188
I was the guy
that had the broadcast
experience

789
00:41:22,230 --> 00:41:23,606
and I had worked at NBC

790
00:41:23,648 --> 00:41:27,485
and I had worked on sports
before Esports.

791
00:41:27,526 --> 00:41:30,405
There were a lot of aspects
of broadcast sports

792
00:41:30,447 --> 00:41:35,034
that we were able to bring
into this new frontier

793
00:41:35,076 --> 00:41:36,619
where there were
these young people

794
00:41:36,661 --> 00:41:39,372
who are so passionate
about playing this game.

795
00:41:39,414 --> 00:41:41,291
It's like opening up
a new world for them

796
00:41:41,333 --> 00:41:44,919
that added
some of that drama of live TV.

797
00:41:45,420 --> 00:41:51,509
We're trying to find the right
blend of sport, game, and kind
of show.

798
00:41:51,550 --> 00:41:53,303
[crowd]
Demacia!

799
00:41:53,345 --> 00:41:55,013
[Rozelle] We have to stay true
to League of Legends .

800
00:41:55,054 --> 00:41:58,975
There are some sort of
ceremonial game show almost
aspect to it.

801
00:41:59,017 --> 00:42:00,352
We're going to ask
some of our fans

802
00:42:00,393 --> 00:42:02,687
if they could marry a champion,
who would it be?

803
00:42:02,728 --> 00:42:04,522
-I'd marry Leona.
-I love the Teemo.

804
00:42:04,563 --> 00:42:07,108
I would marry Teemo
because of the hat.

805
00:42:07,525 --> 00:42:09,986
[Rozelle] In Season Three,
we had to grow our talent pool,

806
00:42:10,028 --> 00:42:13,739
our on-air personality pool
before we could even host an
analyst desk.

807
00:42:13,781 --> 00:42:16,117
And that's something we wanted
to do from the get go.

808
00:42:16,159 --> 00:42:17,869
Because we're big football fans

809
00:42:17,910 --> 00:42:20,163
and we know that it's not just
about watching the game.

810
00:42:20,205 --> 00:42:22,290
It's about watching
the analysis.

811
00:42:22,332 --> 00:42:24,459
He's in the worst shape of all.
He's down to half health

812
00:42:24,501 --> 00:42:27,545
and he's going to get dropped by
Cybolic, Vladimir, right here.

813
00:42:27,586 --> 00:42:29,297
[Gafford] With professional
Esports players,

814
00:42:29,339 --> 00:42:31,299
when they started even playing
League of Legends ,

815
00:42:31,341 --> 00:42:32,925
Esports didn't exist.

816
00:42:32,967 --> 00:42:35,970
For them, they've just suddenly
gotten dragged and dropped

817
00:42:36,012 --> 00:42:39,891
into this world of
stardom and fandom.

818
00:42:40,433 --> 00:42:44,521
[gamer]
When I first decided to pursue
this,

819
00:42:45,021 --> 00:42:48,233
my dad definitely thought
it was a bad idea.

820
00:42:48,274 --> 00:42:50,151
[Snoopeh]
I was playing from Scotland.

821
00:42:51,152 --> 00:42:52,862
There's this stigma that's
attached with gaming in general,

822
00:42:52,904 --> 00:42:55,948
which is when your mom's
basically on your case all the
time saying,

823
00:42:55,990 --> 00:42:58,284
"Get off the computer,
go and do something productive."

824
00:42:58,326 --> 00:43:01,996
There was an educating process
with my parents in regards to,
you know,

825
00:43:02,038 --> 00:43:04,249
this is a-- This
can be a big deal.

826
00:43:04,290 --> 00:43:07,126
Let's go baby, double kill!
Get that top tower!

827
00:43:07,168 --> 00:43:11,797
We overestimated the pro player
ability to like actually engage
with the crowd

828
00:43:11,839 --> 00:43:14,926
because, again, these are 17,
18, 19-year-old kids

829
00:43:14,967 --> 00:43:18,430
who aren't used to being stars.

830
00:43:18,471 --> 00:43:21,891
[LemonNation] I had to start
doing interviews and dealing
with fans.

831
00:43:21,933 --> 00:43:23,851
I definitely was
not good at that,

832
00:43:23,893 --> 00:43:26,563
I've really always been scared
of like public speaking

833
00:43:26,604 --> 00:43:29,482
and being on stage
and all of that kind of thing.

834
00:43:30,233 --> 00:43:32,193
[Phreak] Welcome
back to the show.

835
00:43:32,235 --> 00:43:35,447
Phreak here with LemonNation and
Ballz from the victorious
Quantic Gaming.

836
00:43:35,488 --> 00:43:37,449
You guys didn't make
it through groups.

837
00:43:37,490 --> 00:43:39,534
How do you feel
when you're like, a favorite

838
00:43:39,576 --> 00:43:42,203
and you like--
What does that do to you?

839
00:43:42,495 --> 00:43:47,333
Uh... it was very depressing.
We were joking about suicide.

840
00:43:47,375 --> 00:43:49,419
[both chuckle]

841
00:43:49,461 --> 00:43:51,588
I've always been too awkward
I guess, you know?

842
00:43:51,629 --> 00:43:53,756
[chuckles]

843
00:43:53,798 --> 00:43:56,926
Sometimes they don't understand
the importance of, you know,

844
00:43:56,968 --> 00:43:58,261
giving a good interview

845
00:43:58,303 --> 00:44:01,431
and doing all these
promotional activities.

846
00:44:01,473 --> 00:44:04,183
They don't realize
that what they're signing up for

847
00:44:04,225 --> 00:44:06,102
is not just playing this game
at a professional level,

848
00:44:06,144 --> 00:44:09,730
but it's being this kind
of celebrity player.

849
00:44:10,231 --> 00:44:14,110
You have this huge amount of
influence and eyes on you all
the time.

850
00:44:14,152 --> 00:44:18,030
It's keeping sponsors happy
and keeping your fans engaged

851
00:44:18,072 --> 00:44:21,618
and a lot of it is growing up,
you know, very quickly.

852
00:44:21,659 --> 00:44:24,329
It sounds like a really easy
job. Like, you play video games
for a living?

853
00:44:24,370 --> 00:44:26,956
That sounds great.
My kid would love to do that.

854
00:44:26,998 --> 00:44:28,791
It's not that easy.

855
00:44:28,833 --> 00:44:32,211
It puts an immense amount
of pressure on you as a player.

856
00:44:32,253 --> 00:44:34,589
There's no respite,
there's no hiding.

857
00:44:35,632 --> 00:44:38,301
You're constantly online.
And if I'm not online, I'm
missing out.

858
00:44:38,968 --> 00:44:41,513
[Allen] If I practice football
for eight hours in a day,

859
00:44:41,554 --> 00:44:43,515
I am completely exhausted.

860
00:44:43,556 --> 00:44:45,224
I have no more energy left.

861
00:44:45,266 --> 00:44:47,268
I go home and I rest
and I come back the next day.

862
00:44:47,310 --> 00:44:51,564
Esports doesn't have
that physical limitation.

863
00:44:51,939 --> 00:44:55,276
[Snoopeh] We could be playing
anywhere between ten to 14 hours
a day,

864
00:44:55,318 --> 00:44:58,488
and that's just playing.
That's not necessarily the
thinking.

865
00:44:58,530 --> 00:45:01,407
I go to bed and I'm thinking
about the game.

866
00:45:02,074 --> 00:45:04,827
[Ocelote] If you can play
for 12 or 13 hours, you should.

867
00:45:04,869 --> 00:45:07,497
But, that takes a toll on you.
It's like a hammer on your head.

868
00:45:07,539 --> 00:45:10,249
Boom, boom, boom. Everyday.
Boom, boom, boom.

869
00:45:10,291 --> 00:45:12,960
[Riv] It looks like Dyrus is
down for the count already.

870
00:45:13,002 --> 00:45:15,921
[Kobe]
That is classic Dyrus right
there.

871
00:45:15,963 --> 00:45:18,007
[man] He's going to have to be
careful, keeping an eye on...

872
00:45:18,049 --> 00:45:22,637
When I was a player, I knew the
risks, but I felt like I was a
gladiator,

873
00:45:22,679 --> 00:45:25,264
you know, in an arena
and I had to entertain the
people.

874
00:45:25,306 --> 00:45:27,933
[Riv] They could
look to finish it.

875
00:45:27,975 --> 00:45:31,437
[Allen] Good Esports games
are all about moments.

876
00:45:31,479 --> 00:45:34,691
League of Legends
has these peaks and valleys.

877
00:45:34,773 --> 00:45:36,817
When the Jungler is coming up
through the river,

878
00:45:36,859 --> 00:45:39,654
the suspense starts to build
as he goes in for a gank.

879
00:45:39,696 --> 00:45:43,074
And the crowd in anticipation is
like, "Oh, what's going to
happen?"

880
00:45:43,115 --> 00:45:45,618
No!

881
00:45:46,452 --> 00:45:48,996
The xPeke backdoor play is
probably one, if not the most,
famous play of all time.

882
00:45:49,038 --> 00:45:52,166
It's time for the last League of
Legends game of the day

883
00:45:52,208 --> 00:45:53,668
and it's a big one,
ladies and gentlemen.

884
00:45:53,710 --> 00:45:57,463
-Please welcome Fnatic Raidcall!
-[crowd cheering]

885
00:45:57,505 --> 00:46:01,008
[Horn]
xPeke is playing for Fnatic.

886
00:46:01,050 --> 00:46:03,720
He's going up against Ocelote
and SK Gaming.

887
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:05,762
Do you have something
to say to your rivals?

888
00:46:05,804 --> 00:46:09,225
-Have fun.
-Okay. Thank you very much,
guys.

889
00:46:09,267 --> 00:46:13,896
[Horn] xPeke uses his teleport
to sneak into the opponent's
base.

890
00:46:13,938 --> 00:46:16,107
[announcer] ...he instantly
teleports straight...

891
00:46:16,148 --> 00:46:18,775
[Horn] He only needs to get
one more shot on him

892
00:46:18,817 --> 00:46:21,696
and he'll be dead and
SK would have won.

893
00:46:21,738 --> 00:46:26,618
And he's able to keep rift
walking around the Nexus for
several seconds

894
00:46:26,659 --> 00:46:29,328
while he's evading
the other defense coming in.

895
00:46:29,370 --> 00:46:32,164
[commentator] Is anyone going
to be able to deal with this
one?

896
00:46:32,206 --> 00:46:34,959
Catches him with another axe.
He's very low on health.

897
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:36,669
They're pushing on the Nexus.

898
00:46:36,711 --> 00:46:38,296
And he's able to
take down the Nexus.

899
00:46:38,337 --> 00:46:41,257
-I do not believe it!
-Oh, my God!

900
00:46:41,299 --> 00:46:42,508
They slaughtered them!

901
00:46:42,550 --> 00:46:45,219
[crowd cheering]

902
00:46:48,180 --> 00:46:53,018
xPeke and Fnatic
were just in utter disbelief.

903
00:46:53,603 --> 00:46:57,315
Ocelote and SK,
they were very, very upset.

904
00:46:57,356 --> 00:47:00,817
This is the ultimate drama
with so much on the line.

905
00:47:01,068 --> 00:47:04,071
This really does feel
a lot like sports.

906
00:47:04,113 --> 00:47:07,492
We are just destroyed
right now as a team.

907
00:47:07,824 --> 00:47:09,368
[clears throat]

908
00:47:09,410 --> 00:47:11,954
[voice breaking]
And we failed. We failed.

909
00:47:11,996 --> 00:47:13,456
[Ocelote] I'm not going to lie.

910
00:47:13,498 --> 00:47:15,667
Even today,
I'm a bit salty about that one.

911
00:47:15,708 --> 00:47:18,210
[chuckles] Um...
it was a good play,

912
00:47:18,252 --> 00:47:22,173
especially in that context,
great tournament, important
game.

913
00:47:22,214 --> 00:47:24,091
[crowd cheering]

914
00:47:24,133 --> 00:47:28,304
As bad as that moment was,
when it comes into competition,

915
00:47:28,346 --> 00:47:33,976
you always need competitors
that you want to destroy.

916
00:47:34,268 --> 00:47:36,895
[Snoopeh] As a professional
gamer, there's no balance.

917
00:47:36,937 --> 00:47:39,524
You just can't afford
to have a social life.

918
00:47:39,565 --> 00:47:41,651
But, then you have to realize
why we all do it.

919
00:47:41,693 --> 00:47:43,611
Like, we love the competition.

920
00:47:43,653 --> 00:47:47,782
We love saying "we're the best."
We love kicking someone else's
ass.

921
00:47:47,824 --> 00:47:49,116
That's what we all strive for.

922
00:47:49,158 --> 00:47:52,453
We strive to prove ourselves
on a world stage.

923
00:47:53,371 --> 00:47:55,247
[metal clanking]

924
00:47:59,126 --> 00:48:02,129
[cheering]

925
00:48:02,963 --> 00:48:07,051
[Beck] Marc and I grew up in LA.
Staples is the home of the
Lakers.

926
00:48:07,092 --> 00:48:10,346
So, being here today is just,
I don't know how to describe it.

927
00:48:10,388 --> 00:48:12,306
It's just really sentimental.

928
00:48:13,182 --> 00:48:17,144
Welcome to the Season Three
World Championship Final!

929
00:48:17,186 --> 00:48:19,271
Coming to you live
from the Staples Center

930
00:48:19,313 --> 00:48:21,524
here in Los Angeles, California.

931
00:48:21,566 --> 00:48:23,234
[crowd cheering]

932
00:48:23,275 --> 00:48:26,028
And we've got the double boxes
and double redundancies?

933
00:48:26,070 --> 00:48:28,905
We have two servers.
We have Internet back-up.

934
00:48:28,947 --> 00:48:30,907
We have back-up power.

935
00:48:30,949 --> 00:48:32,909
[crowd cheering]

936
00:48:32,951 --> 00:48:34,829
This is the spot
where we will bring you guys

937
00:48:34,871 --> 00:48:38,207
all the analysis, the
highlights, and the predictions
for tonight's final,

938
00:48:38,249 --> 00:48:40,626
starting with our extended
pre-game coverage.

939
00:48:40,668 --> 00:48:44,505
Yeah. Good luck.
Crush it. See you, guys.

940
00:48:44,839 --> 00:48:46,923
[Horn]
By bringing up the players on a
lift

941
00:48:46,965 --> 00:48:51,429
and using technology to sort of
elevate this new type of sport,

942
00:48:51,470 --> 00:48:54,891
for us that felt
like another step forward.

943
00:48:55,349 --> 00:49:01,397
SK Telecom, they will be
the Season three World
Champions!

944
00:49:02,648 --> 00:49:04,692
[Rozelle]
League is such an international
game

945
00:49:04,734 --> 00:49:07,111
and the international leagues
are so popular.

946
00:49:07,152 --> 00:49:08,780
We knew we wanted
to take it on the road.

947
00:49:08,821 --> 00:49:11,282
Korea was the obvious choice.

948
00:49:16,746 --> 00:49:19,039
[in Korean]
The Seoul World Cup
stadium is, to Koreans,

949
00:49:19,081 --> 00:49:21,709
a very historic place.

950
00:49:21,751 --> 00:49:24,378
The fact that it's possible to
do Esports in a place like this

951
00:49:24,629 --> 00:49:27,423
with 40,000 paid spectators
gathering,

952
00:49:27,465 --> 00:49:29,425
that becomes huge news.

953
00:49:29,884 --> 00:49:33,763
Forty thousand people? What the
hell? 40,000 people?

954
00:49:37,391 --> 00:49:40,018
[Phreak] The opening ceremony
will begin shortly with
traditional Korean music

955
00:49:40,060 --> 00:49:42,647
followed by a live performance
from Imagine Dragons,

956
00:49:42,688 --> 00:49:44,356
playing their hit
song "Warriors."

957
00:49:44,398 --> 00:49:47,276
♪ We are the warriors ♪

958
00:49:47,318 --> 00:49:50,863
[in Korean]
Spending big money on events
like this isn't very common.

959
00:49:51,447 --> 00:49:53,031
Especially in a place like
Korea,

960
00:49:53,073 --> 00:49:56,661
parents with young children
consider games to be harmful.

961
00:49:57,829 --> 00:49:59,664
If you enjoy games too much,

962
00:49:59,705 --> 00:50:02,999
you can't study well and go to
a good college.

963
00:50:03,584 --> 00:50:05,586
You can't get a good job.

964
00:50:06,044 --> 00:50:08,798
Until these perceptions change,

965
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:11,843
it's difficult to say when it
will be acknowledged as a sport.

966
00:50:11,884 --> 00:50:13,678
[crowd cheering]

967
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:17,598
Hello, Berlin!
[speaking German]

968
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:19,099
Ladies and gentlemen,
are you guys ready

969
00:50:19,141 --> 00:50:22,311
for the 2015 League of Legends
World Championship?

970
00:50:22,353 --> 00:50:24,438
[crowd cheering]

971
00:50:26,315 --> 00:50:29,610
[announcer]
At Mid Lane, Faker!

972
00:50:30,402 --> 00:50:32,404
[Gafford]
Then you have players like
Faker.

973
00:50:32,446 --> 00:50:34,615
Who, I guess
if there is a Michael Jordan

974
00:50:34,657 --> 00:50:37,242
of League of Legends or Esports,
this is the guy.

975
00:50:38,202 --> 00:50:41,956
I think almost universally
considered the best player,

976
00:50:41,998 --> 00:50:45,376
Faker has remained dominant
for years now.

977
00:50:45,417 --> 00:50:47,378
He's just that good.

978
00:50:48,462 --> 00:50:52,884
I have so much to tell you, but
my English is not good.

979
00:50:52,925 --> 00:51:00,016
So, thank you and... thank for
cheering and always loving me.

980
00:51:00,056 --> 00:51:02,977
[crowd cheering]

981
00:51:07,272 --> 00:51:09,984
It feels like we're returning
to our roots,

982
00:51:10,026 --> 00:51:12,820
but with way better
production values

983
00:51:12,862 --> 00:51:15,322
and capabilities to actually
deliver a show like this.

984
00:51:15,364 --> 00:51:18,074
[Horn]
We used projection on the floor

985
00:51:18,116 --> 00:51:22,204
to demonstrate how the field
position would work on the Rift.

986
00:51:23,789 --> 00:51:26,082
[Dustin]
You could feel as the stakes
rose,

987
00:51:26,124 --> 00:51:28,961
the intensity of the fans
and of the players

988
00:51:29,003 --> 00:51:31,839
and the entire
vibe of the event.

989
00:51:31,881 --> 00:51:35,676
[Quickshot] SK Telecom
have overcome every challenge.

990
00:51:35,718 --> 00:51:39,304
They are the undisputed
best team in the world!

991
00:51:39,346 --> 00:51:41,223
The SKT reign continues.

992
00:51:41,265 --> 00:51:43,392
They win their third
World Championship!

993
00:51:43,434 --> 00:51:46,144
-[crowd cheering]
-[Kobe] Truly a legend.

994
00:51:48,397 --> 00:51:51,650
[crowd cheering]
Faker! Faker! Faker!

995
00:51:51,692 --> 00:51:53,945
[Riv]
Faker became such a big player,

996
00:51:53,986 --> 00:51:57,364
because he could do all these
mechanically advanced moves,

997
00:51:57,406 --> 00:51:59,199
always hitting everything
at the right second.

998
00:51:59,241 --> 00:52:01,159
That's where idols come in.

999
00:52:01,201 --> 00:52:04,914
That's where you start
wanting to be like somebody.

1000
00:52:09,251 --> 00:52:13,213
Today's games
were absolutely awesome!

1001
00:52:13,255 --> 00:52:17,175
I lost my voice
because I was screaming too
loud.

1002
00:52:17,217 --> 00:52:21,597
It was the best experience
I've ever had for League .

1003
00:52:22,056 --> 00:52:25,059
[Gafford] Because they have
spent virtually zero dollars

1004
00:52:25,101 --> 00:52:27,185
on traditional marketing,

1005
00:52:27,227 --> 00:52:30,898
League of Legends has kind of
flown underneath the radar by
the mainstream.

1006
00:52:30,940 --> 00:52:35,360
Suddenly, when all these stories
started popping up about Esports

1007
00:52:35,402 --> 00:52:37,571
and these tournaments and,
"Wow, the Staples Center

1008
00:52:37,613 --> 00:52:40,282
was sold out for
this massive event,"

1009
00:52:40,324 --> 00:52:45,287
you naturally had a lot of
derision from traditional media.

1010
00:52:45,329 --> 00:52:48,624
[female reporter] It's a pastime
some think is symbolic of
slackers,

1011
00:52:48,666 --> 00:52:51,627
-of teenagers killing time.
-[crowd cheering]

1012
00:52:51,669 --> 00:52:55,422
But video gaming is now
a professional sport.

1013
00:52:55,464 --> 00:52:58,717
[NBC4 reporter] You could call
it the Super Bowl of video
gaming.

1014
00:52:58,759 --> 00:53:01,720
It's the biggest competitive
event we've never heard of.

1015
00:53:01,762 --> 00:53:03,764
-[NBC4 reporter] League of
Legends. -[female reporter]
League of Legends.

1016
00:53:03,806 --> 00:53:05,850
-[reporter 1] League of Legends.
-[reporter 2] League of Legends.

1017
00:53:05,891 --> 00:53:07,476
[radio host]
What is League of Legends ?

1018
00:53:07,518 --> 00:53:10,104
[man] League of Legends
is the most played, like, game
ever.

1019
00:53:10,146 --> 00:53:12,815
-The most--?
-The most played, downloaded
game.

1020
00:53:12,857 --> 00:53:14,692
Oh, because it's--
it's an Internet game?

1021
00:53:14,733 --> 00:53:17,611
I had zero knowledge
of the fact that this exists.

1022
00:53:17,653 --> 00:53:19,195
You didn't know
there were cyber athletes?

1023
00:53:19,237 --> 00:53:21,323
My hand to God, I didn't know.

1024
00:53:21,365 --> 00:53:25,786
But my issue is it's still not a
sport. It's a game.

1025
00:53:25,828 --> 00:53:28,122
Have you guys seen Esports
and the Eleague?

1026
00:53:28,164 --> 00:53:29,373
I don't know if that's sports.

1027
00:53:29,414 --> 00:53:31,167
Do you have any statistics

1028
00:53:31,207 --> 00:53:34,210
on how many of those people
also go to Star Trek
conventions?

1029
00:53:34,252 --> 00:53:35,880
[ MMA Hour host] I
find it very bizarre.

1030
00:53:35,921 --> 00:53:39,215
I feel like it's really--
this is the sign of the
apocalypse

1031
00:53:39,257 --> 00:53:41,177
that people are actually
into this sort of thing.

1032
00:53:41,217 --> 00:53:43,762
[man] I don't feel that way.
I'm kind of excited about this.

1033
00:53:43,804 --> 00:53:46,182
I can understand people
watching a golf game.

1034
00:53:46,222 --> 00:53:48,433
-[announcer] No.
-[crowd cheers]

1035
00:53:48,475 --> 00:53:50,186
[man]
I can't understand people

1036
00:53:50,226 --> 00:53:52,146
watching somebody
play a computer game.

1037
00:53:52,188 --> 00:53:54,439
Well, I have to say my wife
can't understand people

1038
00:53:54,481 --> 00:53:57,026
watching a golf game
because she's not a golfer.

1039
00:53:57,068 --> 00:54:01,030
So, if you're not a gamer
that's not going to appeal to
you.

1040
00:54:01,072 --> 00:54:05,201
For a lot of the older folks,
they're like, amazed by it.

1041
00:54:05,241 --> 00:54:08,037
They're like, how could people
watch other people playing a
game?

1042
00:54:08,079 --> 00:54:11,040
The flip side is we watch other
people playing a game all the
time.

1043
00:54:11,082 --> 00:54:14,501
-Games like basketball,
football, etc. -Yeah.

1044
00:54:14,543 --> 00:54:17,963
-[baseball commentator] Throw
home! -[basketball commentator]
Won't go!

1045
00:54:18,589 --> 00:54:20,758
I like sitting down and watching
League of Legends games.

1046
00:54:20,799 --> 00:54:23,135
Like, I don't normally watch
sports either. [chuckles]

1047
00:54:23,177 --> 00:54:24,845
Which is funny
because I played a lot of
sports.

1048
00:54:24,887 --> 00:54:26,764
[football commentator]
Chris Kluwe is perfect.

1049
00:54:26,805 --> 00:54:29,141
Chris' right footed punt.
Very high.

1050
00:54:29,183 --> 00:54:31,936
[Kluwe] You have five guys
working together on a team

1051
00:54:31,977 --> 00:54:34,063
and if they don't work together

1052
00:54:34,105 --> 00:54:37,608
then the other team's going to
beat them, and I mean, that's
what a team sport is.

1053
00:54:38,316 --> 00:54:40,611
[Gafford]
You have traditional sports
athletes

1054
00:54:40,652 --> 00:54:43,239
like Rick Fox enter the space
with his own team.

1055
00:54:43,279 --> 00:54:45,365
[Fox] They are digital athletes.

1056
00:54:45,407 --> 00:54:48,953
They're professional digital
athletes. No look, can you think
about--

1057
00:54:48,994 --> 00:54:51,538
look, I think about what it took
for me to become a professional
athlete.

1058
00:54:51,580 --> 00:54:53,165
Took a lot of concentration,

1059
00:54:53,207 --> 00:54:57,002
a lot of dedication, practice,
preparation, stamina.

1060
00:54:57,044 --> 00:54:59,171
They're sponsored.
They have careers.

1061
00:54:59,213 --> 00:55:01,423
They make hundreds
of thousands of dollars.

1062
00:55:02,674 --> 00:55:07,679
[Allen] The average salary for a
player is close to $300,000 a
year.

1063
00:55:07,721 --> 00:55:09,347
[Gafford] There is
rumors like Faker

1064
00:55:09,389 --> 00:55:12,350
turned down multimillion dollar
salaries in China.

1065
00:55:14,270 --> 00:55:17,898
[reporter] Players are now
even eligible for U.S. P1 visas

1066
00:55:17,940 --> 00:55:20,525
normally reserved
for touring athletes.

1067
00:55:20,567 --> 00:55:22,069
What is a P1A visa?

1068
00:55:22,111 --> 00:55:25,072
A P1A visa is a visa
that's given for athletes,

1069
00:55:25,114 --> 00:55:27,783
which means that you are
an exceptional athlete

1070
00:55:27,825 --> 00:55:30,452
from another country
coming into the United States

1071
00:55:30,494 --> 00:55:33,956
and you have to prove that
your athletic capabilities are
good enough

1072
00:55:33,998 --> 00:55:36,583
to guarantee you living
inside the United States.

1073
00:55:36,625 --> 00:55:39,211
The Worlds? Is this the
equivalent of the Super Bowl in
my world?

1074
00:55:39,253 --> 00:55:41,046
Yeah, I would say so.

1075
00:55:41,088 --> 00:55:43,757
Except the only difference would
be if the Super Bowl
is just U.S.

1076
00:55:43,799 --> 00:55:46,051
This is like, there's 13
countries that play this game,

1077
00:55:46,093 --> 00:55:47,886
and they all come together
for the World Championship.

1078
00:55:47,928 --> 00:55:50,639
The best Korean team comes
to the States to play

1079
00:55:50,681 --> 00:55:52,850
the best North American team.

1080
00:55:52,891 --> 00:55:55,019
The best team in
China come to play.

1081
00:55:55,060 --> 00:55:57,855
It's the best team.
Trained together for a whole
year.

1082
00:55:57,896 --> 00:55:59,231
Right. That's the difference.

1083
00:55:59,273 --> 00:56:00,941
So, you're getting the games
at the highest level.

1084
00:56:00,983 --> 00:56:03,319
[crowd cheering]

1085
00:56:04,486 --> 00:56:06,238
Oh, my God!

1086
00:56:06,864 --> 00:56:10,366
Quadrakill from Fnatic!
Quadrakill from Fnatic.

1087
00:56:10,408 --> 00:56:14,163
The feeling in there is exactly
the same as being on an field.

1088
00:56:14,205 --> 00:56:17,749
You have fans cheering.
You have, you know, big plays
developing.

1089
00:56:17,791 --> 00:56:20,544
You have moments of glory
and moments of defeat.

1090
00:56:21,003 --> 00:56:24,798
[football commentator] Eli
throwing into traffic on the
sideline.

1091
00:56:25,381 --> 00:56:29,261
[Horn] It'll be really
interesting to see if the
sustainability is there

1092
00:56:29,303 --> 00:56:33,098
and whether we can take League
and build it

1093
00:56:33,140 --> 00:56:36,310
into what can be
generationally relevant.

1094
00:56:36,352 --> 00:56:38,394
The way that we identify
with teams be it

1095
00:56:38,436 --> 00:56:41,732
if we're a Red Sox fan and we're
long suffering until the 2000s.

1096
00:56:41,773 --> 00:56:45,903
[baseball commentator]
The Boston Red Sox are World
Champions!

1097
00:56:45,944 --> 00:56:49,948
[Horn] We want to see that type
of generational rich fabric

1098
00:56:49,990 --> 00:56:53,493
of fandom
that goes beyond year to year.

1099
00:56:53,535 --> 00:56:58,623
That's the goal to have Esports
become sports that last.

1100
00:57:08,050 --> 00:57:11,845
The growth around League of
Legends and the growth around
Esports

1101
00:57:11,887 --> 00:57:15,182
has been tightly coupled
with accessibility of the
content.

1102
00:57:15,224 --> 00:57:18,435
Live streaming Twitch and
YouTube and Facebook,

1103
00:57:18,476 --> 00:57:20,979
all these places you can watch
this content.

1104
00:57:21,021 --> 00:57:23,357
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,
to Greatest League Talk Show .

1105
00:57:23,399 --> 00:57:26,318
I am your host, Scarra.

1106
00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:30,488
Streaming has become
such a generational thing.

1107
00:57:30,530 --> 00:57:32,866
Some people don't
want to watch sports

1108
00:57:32,908 --> 00:57:36,828
or they don't want to watch,
like, TV, but they want to watch
gaming.

1109
00:57:36,870 --> 00:57:40,040
Use a slow roll. Wait for peopl
to slowly smash your face in.

1110
00:57:40,082 --> 00:57:43,877
They are gamers and in their
free time they want to watch
what they love.

1111
00:57:43,919 --> 00:57:46,922
All the top streamers are
usually old professional
players.

1112
00:57:46,964 --> 00:57:49,300
They're kind of going to have
to start fights off of Scarra.

1113
00:57:49,341 --> 00:57:53,137
If he can land really, really
good ults, he'll just make
things happen.

1114
00:57:53,178 --> 00:57:56,640
[Scarra] I ended up being like,
one of the first ever
educational streamers.

1115
00:57:56,681 --> 00:57:58,809
I would talk about
what I'm doing.

1116
00:57:58,850 --> 00:58:02,354
Now, that sounds crazy right?
Super easy. But is it?

1117
00:58:02,396 --> 00:58:05,441
Ideally, you don't want to get
into a range to Q over...

1118
00:58:05,482 --> 00:58:09,445
Think about you narrating your
life, every aspect of your life
every day.

1119
00:58:09,486 --> 00:58:10,737
That's what we're doing.

1120
00:58:10,779 --> 00:58:13,949
100 and f-- Oh, my God!

1121
00:58:13,991 --> 00:58:15,451
I have a subscriber base

1122
00:58:15,492 --> 00:58:18,454
where they pay a certain amount
every month to support me.

1123
00:58:18,495 --> 00:58:21,748
They can support me through
donations, and they can support
me just by watching

1124
00:58:21,790 --> 00:58:23,583
because I make money
through ad revenue as well.

1125
00:58:23,625 --> 00:58:27,463
I am currently making
six figures right now.

1126
00:58:27,504 --> 00:58:29,923
I will eventually
be a millionaire.

1127
00:58:29,965 --> 00:58:32,301
-Oh, my God, what a game.
-[game voice-over] Victory!

1128
00:58:32,343 --> 00:58:34,970
Infernal! Sorry.

1129
00:58:35,012 --> 00:58:38,849
[girl] I was exposed to Twitch
via my online friends

1130
00:58:38,890 --> 00:58:41,601
and I started watching these
streamers and I got hooked on it

1131
00:58:41,643 --> 00:58:44,313
and I'd watch them and I'd be
like, "Wow, I love what they do!

1132
00:58:44,355 --> 00:58:46,106
I wish I could do that someday."

1133
00:58:46,148 --> 00:58:48,108
Aw, give me the penta, dude!

1134
00:58:48,150 --> 00:58:50,068
As a streamer, I'm
here to entertain,

1135
00:58:50,110 --> 00:58:52,988
I want to make people laugh,
smile, and I want to enjoy what
I do.

1136
00:58:53,030 --> 00:58:56,283
Yes, yes! All three CS.

1137
00:58:56,325 --> 00:58:59,495
I did a lot of stuff like
student council in high school,

1138
00:58:59,536 --> 00:59:02,706
was a part of clubs, dance team,
soccer team, stuff like that.

1139
00:59:02,747 --> 00:59:04,541
I really love making friends

1140
00:59:04,582 --> 00:59:07,669
and I remember hitting triple
digits, "100 people watching."

1141
00:59:07,711 --> 00:59:10,881
I thought that was like,
the biggest deal ever.

1142
00:59:10,922 --> 00:59:15,927
Nowadays I average like 5,000
to 10,000 people watching me.

1143
00:59:16,261 --> 00:59:18,138
People come up to you
and they say like,

1144
00:59:18,180 --> 00:59:22,726
"I watched your stream and you
really helped me through a tough
time where

1145
00:59:22,767 --> 00:59:24,978
I lost a parent or
I lost a friend"

1146
00:59:25,020 --> 00:59:26,771
Thanks, Chenyascream!

1147
00:59:26,813 --> 00:59:29,483
Welcome to the Poki squad,
appreciate 'ya.

1148
00:59:29,525 --> 00:59:34,488
You really help people stay
happy and feel company just by
streaming.

1149
00:59:34,530 --> 00:59:37,657
So, I'm going to play with a
bunch of my viewers right now.

1150
00:59:37,699 --> 00:59:39,410
We're all just
loading into a game.

1151
00:59:39,451 --> 00:59:41,828
[game sounds]

1152
00:59:41,870 --> 00:59:43,580
[Ocelote] I love
human interaction.

1153
00:59:43,621 --> 00:59:46,666
And there's just no better way
to interact digitally

1154
00:59:46,708 --> 00:59:50,587
with anyone
than with live streaming,
period.

1155
00:59:51,213 --> 00:59:55,259
[Marshall] Ocelote was a
streamer back in the early days
of League of Legends .

1156
00:59:55,509 --> 00:59:58,303
There's comic timing to
everything. Even anger.

1157
00:59:58,345 --> 01:00:02,307
And if you're charismatic and
funny about being angry and
furious,

1158
01:00:02,349 --> 01:00:05,769
-that can go a long way.
-[screams]

1159
01:00:05,810 --> 01:00:10,190
It was kind of one of the first
streams that banked on being
entertainingly toxic.

1160
01:00:10,232 --> 01:00:14,319
Ocelote, Ocelote, Ocelote, yeah

1161
01:00:14,361 --> 01:00:16,572
When you're immature,

1162
01:00:16,613 --> 01:00:21,243
when you haven't lived through a
lot of ups and downs in life,

1163
01:00:21,285 --> 01:00:24,662
then you get thrown a bad
teammate, in a bad moment,

1164
01:00:24,704 --> 01:00:27,749
in front of a few thousand
people watching you,

1165
01:00:27,791 --> 01:00:30,294
and then that amount of
pressure, peer pressure.

1166
01:00:30,335 --> 01:00:33,797
It's just everything
comes too fast,

1167
01:00:33,838 --> 01:00:37,092
and you just feel very
frustrated about the situation.

1168
01:00:37,134 --> 01:00:40,637
And you say things that
you don't even feel yourself,
you know.

1169
01:00:42,347 --> 01:00:44,475
[Allen] In the case of Ocelote,

1170
01:00:44,516 --> 01:00:47,852
he would say terrible things
to insult people

1171
01:00:47,894 --> 01:00:50,564
whether it's your opponent
and you're just trash talking
them

1172
01:00:50,606 --> 01:00:52,441
or it's your own
teammate on your team

1173
01:00:52,483 --> 01:00:55,026
that has not performed up
to your standards.

1174
01:00:55,068 --> 01:00:56,945
Riot had to get
involved and say,

1175
01:00:56,987 --> 01:00:58,947
"If you're going to be
a professional athlete

1176
01:00:58,989 --> 01:01:01,032
representing
not only League of Legends,

1177
01:01:01,074 --> 01:01:04,744
but Riot Games, playing in this
League , you're going to need
to clean it up."

1178
01:01:05,537 --> 01:01:07,872
[Ocelote] Of course there was
no ill intent. And I'm a kid.

1179
01:01:07,914 --> 01:01:10,875
I remember it was about the time
that my father, actually,

1180
01:01:10,917 --> 01:01:13,253
was going through chemotherapy.

1181
01:01:13,295 --> 01:01:16,256
But reacting that badly,
especially in front of people,

1182
01:01:16,298 --> 01:01:18,467
is the worst thing you can do.

1183
01:01:18,509 --> 01:01:20,093
You know, because these kids
look up to you.

1184
01:01:20,135 --> 01:01:23,054
Fuck, fuck, fuck!

1185
01:01:23,096 --> 01:01:26,766
Showing them that kind of bad
side of competition

1186
01:01:26,808 --> 01:01:28,810
is the worst thing you can do.

1187
01:01:29,853 --> 01:01:32,730
I remember the community
and Riot being extremely fair.

1188
01:01:32,772 --> 01:01:37,194
Being judgmental,
which helped me also be self
-reflective.

1189
01:01:37,235 --> 01:01:39,488
But at the same time,
being empathetic,

1190
01:01:39,530 --> 01:01:42,324
and giving me a second chance,
which they did.

1191
01:01:42,366 --> 01:01:43,950
So, I'm incredibly
grateful for that.

1192
01:01:43,992 --> 01:01:47,454
Thank you very much to all of
you. I love you all. Bye.

1193
01:01:47,496 --> 01:01:50,081
While there's one
case of Ocelote,

1194
01:01:50,123 --> 01:01:53,418
there are a hundred
cases of players

1195
01:01:53,460 --> 01:01:58,465
who have not reformed,
who have not cut out the
toxicity.

1196
01:01:58,507 --> 01:02:01,426
[Koster] The Internet
has this amazing power to create
crowds

1197
01:02:01,468 --> 01:02:04,429
and crowds create anonymity.

1198
01:02:04,471 --> 01:02:05,805
[keys clacking]

1199
01:02:05,847 --> 01:02:07,891
[Kim]
Because it's free-to-play,

1200
01:02:08,642 --> 01:02:10,602
you can get people coming
into the game from anywhere

1201
01:02:10,644 --> 01:02:12,103
and you can have people having

1202
01:02:12,145 --> 01:02:15,148
almost zero accountability
for their actions there.

1203
01:02:16,233 --> 01:02:19,069
[Marshall] League of Legends
has a really bad reputation

1204
01:02:19,110 --> 01:02:22,989
for being toxic because you're
in a high pressure situation.

1205
01:02:23,657 --> 01:02:26,618
There are a lot of factors
outside of your control.

1206
01:02:27,160 --> 01:02:28,953
[laughing]

1207
01:02:28,995 --> 01:02:30,706
I can see why people
get frustrated

1208
01:02:30,747 --> 01:02:33,333
and I can see
why in today's online culture

1209
01:02:33,375 --> 01:02:35,919
that frustration turns
into something pretty ugly.

1210
01:02:35,960 --> 01:02:38,796
[man] No fucking joke.
I'm not kidding. Kill yourself.

1211
01:02:38,838 --> 01:02:42,259
[woman] It's very similar to
what you see in road rage, for
example.

1212
01:02:42,300 --> 01:02:46,471
It leads to that "flash in the
pan" rage where we tend to act
out.

1213
01:02:46,513 --> 01:02:49,307
The part that I find very
painful, just as a gamer,

1214
01:02:49,349 --> 01:02:52,060
is that my crime
is that I show up as a woman.

1215
01:02:52,102 --> 01:02:54,187
I don't play on voice chat

1216
01:02:54,229 --> 01:02:56,523
because you're going to figure
out pretty quickly

1217
01:02:56,565 --> 01:02:58,858
that I'm not of the
male persuasion,

1218
01:02:59,943 --> 01:03:02,904
and so that usually leads to,
you know, variety of your
classic,

1219
01:03:02,946 --> 01:03:04,448
"get back to the
kitchen" comments

1220
01:03:04,489 --> 01:03:07,325
to nasty stuff that I'm totally
not going to repeat here.

1221
01:03:08,326 --> 01:03:11,329
[Marshall] I don't think it's a
League of Legends specific
problem.

1222
01:03:11,371 --> 01:03:13,749
I think it's a gaming problem.

1223
01:03:13,790 --> 01:03:16,293
For a lot of us, it's
become white noise.

1224
01:03:16,334 --> 01:03:20,880
If we got legitimately upset,
we would never play.

1225
01:03:21,423 --> 01:03:24,050
You almost have to learn a bit
about human psychology

1226
01:03:24,092 --> 01:03:27,721
and realize that this person
must be in such a terrible place

1227
01:03:27,763 --> 01:03:29,681
to be doing that kind of thing.

1228
01:03:29,723 --> 01:03:33,351
I almost feel bad for
them in that sense.

1229
01:03:33,727 --> 01:03:35,687
Although you can
get a lot of hate,

1230
01:03:35,729 --> 01:03:38,649
I try to focus more
on how to fix the situation

1231
01:03:38,690 --> 01:03:41,735
as opposed to being mad at it.

1232
01:03:42,653 --> 01:03:44,529
[groans]

1233
01:03:45,196 --> 01:03:46,906
[Koster] Early League
started out small enough

1234
01:03:46,948 --> 01:03:48,492
that many of these problems
didn't manifest.

1235
01:03:48,533 --> 01:03:50,661
-[shrieks]
-[Koster] Then it grew.

1236
01:03:50,702 --> 01:03:54,247
At some point, League said
we need to take this seriously.

1237
01:03:54,289 --> 01:03:58,710
We need to engage
in the process of governance.

1238
01:03:58,752 --> 01:04:00,504
[Phreak]
Welcome to the Tribunal.

1239
01:04:00,545 --> 01:04:03,548
The Tribunal allows you to shap
player behavior for the better,

1240
01:04:03,590 --> 01:04:06,384
acting directly on reports
from fellow players.

1241
01:04:06,426 --> 01:04:09,346
We built a penalty
system for that.

1242
01:04:09,387 --> 01:04:14,184
And we even experimented
with trying to pull the
community in

1243
01:04:14,225 --> 01:04:19,022
and have them be the arbiters
of what deserved a penalty or
what didn't.

1244
01:04:19,063 --> 01:04:22,442
[Phreak] After reviewing the
chat log, I decide that I want
to punish him.

1245
01:04:23,026 --> 01:04:25,570
But, if we jump in there and
we're like, "You can't do that"

1246
01:04:25,612 --> 01:04:27,405
and "That's terrible"
and all of these different
things.

1247
01:04:27,447 --> 01:04:30,408
Then what happens is we just
collectively as people dig our
heels in.

1248
01:04:30,450 --> 01:04:33,161
Like, "Whoa, this is change.
Whoa, what's happening?"

1249
01:04:33,411 --> 01:04:36,790
That's what lead us to say,
"Let's figure out what this gap
is."

1250
01:04:36,832 --> 01:04:38,709
And it turned out
that it was encouragement.

1251
01:04:38,750 --> 01:04:42,253
It was telling folks
when they're doing a great job,

1252
01:04:42,295 --> 01:04:43,797
that they're doing a great job.

1253
01:04:43,839 --> 01:04:46,675
Instead of it always being
about the punishments,

1254
01:04:46,717 --> 01:04:48,677
let's celebrate with players.

1255
01:04:48,719 --> 01:04:50,595
And that has worked
so much better

1256
01:04:50,637 --> 01:04:53,765
than just strictly focusing
on those penalties.

1257
01:04:54,224 --> 01:04:56,267
But we're never going to reach
perfect. There is no perfect.

1258
01:04:56,309 --> 01:04:57,811
There is no end state.

1259
01:04:57,853 --> 01:05:02,065
There's just this ongoing
understanding of players.

1260
01:05:04,776 --> 01:05:07,529
[gamer] Even though people might
say that the community is toxic,

1261
01:05:07,571 --> 01:05:09,489
I feel like we can
make it a better place

1262
01:05:09,531 --> 01:05:12,868
by being support talkers
rather than trash talkers.

1263
01:05:12,909 --> 01:05:14,578
Toxicity is negative.

1264
01:05:14,619 --> 01:05:17,288
Let's not keep that up.
We're all about good times.

1265
01:05:17,330 --> 01:05:20,291
[gamer 2] I'm here to say
that there is a whole side

1266
01:05:20,333 --> 01:05:22,960
that never gets talked
about full of awesome people

1267
01:05:23,002 --> 01:05:24,880
who are being
really good to each other.

1268
01:05:24,921 --> 01:05:27,924
So, keep playing League .
[clicks tongue]

1269
01:05:31,344 --> 01:05:35,557
League of Legends
is part of a very big movement.

1270
01:05:36,140 --> 01:05:39,977
It's the players and fans
that are all coming together

1271
01:05:40,019 --> 01:05:41,979
to craft this
experience together.

1272
01:05:42,021 --> 01:05:43,690
-[man] League of--
-[all] Legends!

1273
01:05:43,732 --> 01:05:45,358
-[man] League of--
-[all] Legends!

1274
01:05:45,400 --> 01:05:47,694
-[man] League of--
-[all] Legends!

1275
01:05:47,736 --> 01:05:51,364
[Gafford] It's not just a bunch
of people independently
consuming something.

1276
01:05:51,406 --> 01:05:55,577
It is a ton of people
all over the world creating
something.

1277
01:05:55,911 --> 01:05:58,914
For them, it's about
the characters themselves.

1278
01:05:58,955 --> 01:06:01,625
It's this character
driven situation

1279
01:06:01,666 --> 01:06:04,920
where you kind of assume
the fantasy of this game.

1280
01:06:05,629 --> 01:06:07,839
[Koster] The huge cast of
characters that has developed

1281
01:06:07,881 --> 01:06:11,635
is one of the reasons
why League can have that
popularity.

1282
01:06:11,676 --> 01:06:13,929
It gives that access.

1283
01:06:14,554 --> 01:06:17,432
We're generally looking
for something that we identify
with,

1284
01:06:17,474 --> 01:06:22,729
and that means that anybody
can come to that and find a way
in.

1285
01:06:22,771 --> 01:06:25,106
[woman] I thought the art
of the characters was so cool.

1286
01:06:25,148 --> 01:06:27,609
This looks really fun and
interesting and I really like
it.

1287
01:06:27,651 --> 01:06:29,861
[gamer 3] Heimerdinger does have
that best swag walk.

1288
01:06:29,903 --> 01:06:33,114
-Yeah, he has that swag.
-Heimerdinger swag!

1289
01:06:33,156 --> 01:06:35,366
[Heimerdinger]
Order, entropy, a never-ending
cycle.

1290
01:06:35,408 --> 01:06:38,161
Oh, my God, I love Graves.

1291
01:06:38,202 --> 01:06:41,665
They made that Graves skin
with like, no shirt and I was
like, mm!

1292
01:06:41,706 --> 01:06:44,459
Feeling lucky? Try me.

1293
01:06:44,501 --> 01:06:47,587
I connect with it so much
that I am Draven.

1294
01:06:47,629 --> 01:06:49,923
[laughs]

1295
01:06:49,965 --> 01:06:52,550
My favorite character by far is
Teemo. He is an underdog.

1296
01:06:52,592 --> 01:06:56,262
He is a little guy.
He's not strong. He's very fast.

1297
01:06:56,304 --> 01:06:59,349
He can't really fight you
straight up one on one.

1298
01:06:59,390 --> 01:07:02,602
I like him because he is super
relatable to basically anyone.

1299
01:07:02,644 --> 01:07:04,020
[Teemo] Armed and ready!

1300
01:07:04,061 --> 01:07:06,314
It doesn't matter if you're from
China or Korea or USA,

1301
01:07:06,356 --> 01:07:10,318
you see this guy and you're
like, "I know what that
character is all about."

1302
01:07:13,822 --> 01:07:17,868
The characters have such vibrant
backgrounds and personality to
them.

1303
01:07:17,909 --> 01:07:20,537
And that's the reason why, for
example, you see so many people
cosplaying.

1304
01:07:20,578 --> 01:07:22,455
It's not just, like,
a generic character.

1305
01:07:22,497 --> 01:07:25,542
It's they're rich
and full of life.

1306
01:07:25,583 --> 01:07:26,918
I'm a casual player.

1307
01:07:26,960 --> 01:07:30,213
But I'm playing Wukong,
obviously.

1308
01:07:30,254 --> 01:07:32,549
He's a fun character to play.

1309
01:07:34,467 --> 01:07:36,720
[Merrill] You do not want to
mess with that dude.

1310
01:07:37,846 --> 01:07:39,556
Seven foot, virtually unkillable
barbarian warrior is coming at
you

1311
01:07:39,597 --> 01:07:42,433
with a sword
that can cleave you in two.

1312
01:07:42,767 --> 01:07:46,354
The designers decided
to name him after a character

1313
01:07:46,396 --> 01:07:48,982
that I had played in EverQuest ,
which was a barbarian warrior.

1314
01:07:49,024 --> 01:07:50,734
So they thought Tryndamere
was a really cool name

1315
01:07:50,775 --> 01:07:52,903
and just fit the persona.

1316
01:07:52,944 --> 01:07:54,988
A lot of players, when I'm
playing, get disappointed

1317
01:07:55,030 --> 01:07:58,366
if I'm not playing Tryndamere.
They're like, "Please play
Tryndamere."

1318
01:08:04,831 --> 01:08:07,042
What's the secret to
League of Legends?

1319
01:08:07,083 --> 01:08:08,543
It's this right here.
It's the community.

1320
01:08:08,585 --> 01:08:11,254
-Oh.
-Look around. Do a 360.

1321
01:08:11,295 --> 01:08:14,340
That's the secret. That's
literally it. [chuckles]

1322
01:08:16,634 --> 01:08:18,887
[man] It's hard for me because
my parents don't really
understand

1323
01:08:18,929 --> 01:08:20,931
like, all this stuff, you know?

1324
01:08:20,972 --> 01:08:24,768
I've played with these guys
for like, a year now, if not
longer.

1325
01:08:24,809 --> 01:08:28,145
And it's just like,
I talk to these guys every
single day.

1326
01:08:28,187 --> 01:08:31,107
For me to actually come
and finally meet them, it's so
cool!

1327
01:08:31,148 --> 01:08:33,068
And when we're playing online,

1328
01:08:33,150 --> 01:08:37,697
it's nice to come on and have
family or a community that
understands that.

1329
01:08:38,615 --> 01:08:42,326
In games, there's no borders
that typically exist.

1330
01:08:42,368 --> 01:08:46,456
Like when I meet someone online,
I am meeting them at face value.

1331
01:08:46,497 --> 01:08:48,875
I know nothing about them,
I can't see them.

1332
01:08:48,917 --> 01:08:50,794
I don't know what race they are.

1333
01:08:50,835 --> 01:08:53,170
I don't know what
their socioeconomic background
is.

1334
01:08:53,212 --> 01:08:57,216
I don't know if they're
important or not. Like, it
doesn't matter.

1335
01:08:57,258 --> 01:08:58,426
[announcer]
Where are you guys from?

1336
01:08:58,468 --> 01:08:59,218
North Dakota.

1337
01:08:59,260 --> 01:09:00,428
Austin, Texas.

1338
01:09:00,470 --> 01:09:02,179
Anchorage, Alaska.

1339
01:09:02,221 --> 01:09:03,765
-Ugh.
-Pittsburgh.

1340
01:09:03,807 --> 01:09:05,391
-[both] Chicago.
-Vancouver.

1341
01:09:05,433 --> 01:09:07,602
[whoops]

1342
01:09:09,186 --> 01:09:12,189
League of Legends becomes
this universal language in of
itself.

1343
01:09:12,231 --> 01:09:14,191
Like, I can be in Shanghai

1344
01:09:14,233 --> 01:09:17,821
and see somebody with a Teemo
hat and instantaneously we have
this bond.

1345
01:09:17,862 --> 01:09:20,740
And can talk about like, "Oh,
Teemo!" and have smiles and
laughs.

1346
01:09:22,450 --> 01:09:25,620
It was just a hugely cool thing
to see the passion

1347
01:09:25,662 --> 01:09:27,705
that players would have
for League of Legends ,

1348
01:09:27,747 --> 01:09:30,333
you know, in all these different
parts of the world.

1349
01:09:34,087 --> 01:09:36,339
[Beck]
Publishers like to think of
markets

1350
01:09:36,380 --> 01:09:39,175
as just completely
different internationally.

1351
01:09:39,216 --> 01:09:41,719
But I think gamers around the
world have an awful lot in
common

1352
01:09:41,761 --> 01:09:45,473
that people don't necessarily
recognize or appreciate.

1353
01:09:47,224 --> 01:09:50,186
[overlapping chatter]

1354
01:09:50,770 --> 01:09:52,814
[Gafford]
As huge and crazy as it is,

1355
01:09:52,856 --> 01:09:54,983
they've only managed to make
this one game.

1356
01:09:55,025 --> 01:09:58,695
And while they've certainly
admitted that there are more
games in the pipeline,

1357
01:09:58,987 --> 01:10:02,991
how much pressure must there be
on you if you're working on one
of those projects

1358
01:10:03,033 --> 01:10:05,869
to follow up something
like a League of Legends ?

1359
01:10:07,328 --> 01:10:10,040
You know, is League of Legends
the best game Riot will ever
make?

1360
01:10:10,081 --> 01:10:12,625
Is it the biggest game
they will ever make?

1361
01:10:12,667 --> 01:10:15,712
I don't know,
but there's a chance it could
be.

1362
01:10:17,047 --> 01:10:19,340
[Marshall] Ever since League of
Legends really kicked off

1363
01:10:19,382 --> 01:10:21,467
and became just sort
of a phenomenon,

1364
01:10:21,509 --> 01:10:24,512
everyone's sort of waiting to
see when it will die.

1365
01:10:25,138 --> 01:10:27,264
Every game dies.

1366
01:10:28,599 --> 01:10:32,228
Starcraft was the Esport
for a long time and it faded
away.

1367
01:10:32,770 --> 01:10:34,772
[LemonNation]
I don't think a game can last
forever.

1368
01:10:34,814 --> 01:10:37,150
I think eventually
another game will overlap it

1369
01:10:37,192 --> 01:10:41,029
as, you know, like the biggest
Esport. I think that's just the
nature of Esports.

1370
01:10:41,946 --> 01:10:43,781
[Allen]
There are more Esports titles
out there.

1371
01:10:43,823 --> 01:10:46,784
There are more games
taking up mind share.

1372
01:10:46,826 --> 01:10:49,328
It's a little bit of an arms
race of who's going to be doing
it best.

1373
01:10:49,370 --> 01:10:52,498
Who's going to invest more
people and more resources

1374
01:10:52,540 --> 01:10:56,127
into Esports and competition?

1375
01:10:56,794 --> 01:11:00,297
We're in a make or break time
for Esports.

1376
01:11:00,339 --> 01:11:03,426
Like, this thing needs
to continue to grow

1377
01:11:03,467 --> 01:11:06,221
at the rate that it's projected
to grow. People talk about it by
2020,

1378
01:11:06,262 --> 01:11:09,640
it's going to be a $1.5 billion
business every year.

1379
01:11:09,682 --> 01:11:12,393
All these investors have come in
buying the hype,

1380
01:11:12,435 --> 01:11:15,438
buying the speculation,
where this thing is going.

1381
01:11:15,479 --> 01:11:17,607
If it doesn't go that way,
this whole ecosystem

1382
01:11:17,648 --> 01:11:20,693
is at risk of collapsing.

1383
01:11:26,657 --> 01:11:32,580
[in Chinese]
This is Beijing, China. Welcome
to the 2017 World Championship!

1384
01:11:33,664 --> 01:11:37,376
[Horn] We wanted to go to China
and set up a show in the Bird's
Nest.

1385
01:11:37,418 --> 01:11:39,420
The home of the Olympics.

1386
01:11:39,462 --> 01:11:42,799
That presents a lot of risks
and it's scary.

1387
01:11:42,840 --> 01:11:45,885
This is the exact track
in which Usain Bolt

1388
01:11:45,927 --> 01:11:47,386
broke his own 100-meter record.

1389
01:11:47,428 --> 01:11:49,430
[Horn] Most sports have
100 years of history.

1390
01:11:49,472 --> 01:11:52,183
We have under ten.

1391
01:11:52,225 --> 01:11:54,560
We know that we need
to develop deeper bonds

1392
01:11:54,602 --> 01:11:58,898
with potential partners and
sponsors and we are incredibly
motivated.

1393
01:11:58,940 --> 01:12:02,110
So much of it has been about
Faker, as it always is.

1394
01:12:02,152 --> 01:12:03,945
But this year,
when they've needed him most,

1395
01:12:03,987 --> 01:12:06,990
he has played better
than ever before.

1396
01:12:08,324 --> 01:12:10,785
We wanted to create memories
with these big events

1397
01:12:10,827 --> 01:12:14,080
and we know that those memories
are what carry on.

1398
01:12:14,122 --> 01:12:19,669
When people look back, they
think of these kind of flashbulb
moments.

1399
01:12:19,710 --> 01:12:22,338
Those are the things
that you can't really value,

1400
01:12:22,379 --> 01:12:26,592
because it was a moment that all
of us will remember forever.

1401
01:12:26,634 --> 01:12:28,594
[roars]

1402
01:12:29,846 --> 01:12:31,514
[Phreak] The upset is complete
as the kills come through.

1403
01:12:31,555 --> 01:12:36,435
The SKT dynasty is over.
All hail the new kings!

1404
01:12:36,477 --> 01:12:38,562
Samsung Galaxy,

1405
01:12:38,604 --> 01:12:42,692
-your 2017 World Champions!
-[crowd cheering]

1406
01:12:44,235 --> 01:12:46,988
[Deficio] Every single player
talks about revenge

1407
01:12:47,030 --> 01:12:49,365
against SKT and they got it.

1408
01:12:49,406 --> 01:12:52,451
Faker is destroyed.

1409
01:13:08,259 --> 01:13:11,721
[Koster] Once a phenomenon
like League of Legends happens,

1410
01:13:11,762 --> 01:13:14,598
you can't undo the
effect it's had.

1411
01:13:14,640 --> 01:13:19,687
It may evolve, it may change,
but it doesn't just disappear.

1412
01:13:19,729 --> 01:13:22,982
The impact I think
has barely begun to be felt.

1413
01:13:23,024 --> 01:13:27,195
It might even be a generation
before we truly see it.

1414
01:13:28,279 --> 01:13:31,157
Our parents always kind of
thought that we would stop
playing these games.

1415
01:13:31,199 --> 01:13:33,617
And I think we're just starting
to hit the point

1416
01:13:33,659 --> 01:13:36,996
where people feel like games
are here to stay.

1417
01:13:37,830 --> 01:13:40,499
[Pokimane] Almost everybody
can be considered a gamer.

1418
01:13:40,541 --> 01:13:42,252
Whether it be Candy Crush
on your phone

1419
01:13:42,293 --> 01:13:45,255
or whether you scrim League
eight hours every day.

1420
01:13:45,296 --> 01:13:49,050
You know, everybody can enjoy
some type of game.

1421
01:13:49,300 --> 01:13:51,677
[Scarra]
League of Legends is a
lifestyle.

1422
01:13:51,719 --> 01:13:54,764
I think the only thing my
parents want is me to find a
girlfriend.

1423
01:13:54,805 --> 01:13:56,807
And that's it. [laughs]

1424
01:13:56,849 --> 01:13:58,893
My parents are just like,
"You got to pursue a love life."

1425
01:13:58,935 --> 01:14:01,562
And I'm just like, "I'm busy
playing League, how do I do
that?"

1426
01:14:01,604 --> 01:14:05,858
I came out on League of Legends
with my boyfriend.

1427
01:14:05,900 --> 01:14:08,778
I play League of Legends
because my friends forced me to.

1428
01:14:08,819 --> 01:14:11,197
We ended up building a really
strong relationship through
League of Legends ,

1429
01:14:11,239 --> 01:14:15,576
strong enough that he decided
to make me his best man at his
wedding.

1430
01:14:16,869 --> 01:14:21,124
[Beck] League of Legends isn't
done, it hasn't reached its full
potential.

1431
01:14:21,165 --> 01:14:22,875
We're not perfect
and we don't get it all right,

1432
01:14:22,917 --> 01:14:25,253
but, man, I just think
it's such a privilege

1433
01:14:25,295 --> 01:14:27,797
to help make the types of games

1434
01:14:27,838 --> 01:14:30,383
that I most love to experience.

1435
01:14:30,716 --> 01:14:32,718
[Merrill] We realize
that it's not about us.

1436
01:14:32,760 --> 01:14:35,763
It's about our audience
that we're trying to serve.

1437
01:14:35,805 --> 01:14:40,310
You're no longer who you were.
You are now part of something
greater.

1438
01:14:41,269 --> 01:14:45,273
[Beck] Everything that we do
is made possible by the
community,

1439
01:14:45,315 --> 01:14:49,319
their level of engagement,
their level of support.

1440
01:14:49,360 --> 01:14:50,653
The community is the game.

1441
01:14:56,409 --> 01:14:58,369
Nice job, guys.
[chuckles]

1442
01:14:58,411 --> 01:15:00,537
GG! [chuckles]

1443
01:15:13,343 --> 01:15:16,512
[theme music playing]