League of Legends has come 
a long way in a short amount of time.
Over 100 million players playing 
every month.
Players were just
 showing up in mass.
It’s a place where 
we could be ourselves.
More and more people know about it. 
We can’t lose this momentum.
There’s like a three-hour 
wait to get in a game.
There’s this real sense of
 “blink and you’ll miss it."
This was too big, 
too much, too fast.
The finals drew in 36 million.
That’s more than the Stanley Cup Finals.
The World Series
and the NBA Finals combined.
We weren’t sure if it sucked or not.
It was clunky, the interface was really bad, 
the art was really bad. 
People came into the game, 
and the store immediately fell over.
People were running around 
with their hair on fire
to keep the wheels on the car.
European fans 
were furious.
I get on the forums 
and start to see people complaining.
We had 53 days 
to set up the whole thing.
Stakes were high as they’ve ever been.
And we just fell on our face.
We’ve been having 
internet connectivity issues.
Another restart
on a  game
would just be unfair.
That’s something that could totally alter the 
course of Riot Esports.
When you’re building a community, 
you really have to start with the individuals.  
It’s the players 
that are all coming together 
to craft this experience together.
This looks really fun and interesting, 
and I really like it.
What draws 
players in is 
that you are so connected 
to that character.
It’s just a hugely 
cool thing 
to see the passion that players 
have had for League of Legends 
in all these 
different parts of the world.
And suddenly, all the stories 
started popping up about Esports.
The feel as the stakes rose
the intensity of the fans that meet the players.
This whole ecosystem 
is a risk of collapse.
Doesn’t matter if you’re from 
China, Korea, or USA
you see this guy, and you’re like 
“I know what that character’s all about.”
It’s not a bunch of people 
independently consuming something
it is a ton of people in the world 
creating something.
Once a phenomenon like
 League of Legends happens
you can’t undo 
the effect it's had. 
The impact has 
barely begun to be felt.
