Nothing but good news: LCS fans finally have something to smile about

The recent League Championship Series Address looks to have been a hit with fans, who are very much in favor of the changes being implemented.

The address, hosted by the LCS’ new commissioner Mark “MarkZ” Zimmerman, was published on Jan. 9 and lays out Riot Games’ plans for 2024’s competitive season. Among the changes are reduced intermissions between matches, new ways for viewers to interact with the broadcasts, and moving LCS back to weekends. Another major change is all LCS matches will be played on the live patch, meaning if there’s a professional build you like the look of, you can try it for yourself straight away.

So far, the fan reception appears mostly positive. At the time of writing, the address’ YouTube upload has 8,400 likes and only 117 dislikes, with several of the top comments complimenting MarkZ, in particular.

“I’m excited for Mark as the commissioner. Someone who’s literally been a part of every aspect of the LCS. He knows what the fans want,” agentcodybanx8909 said. Another fan, TuffLeader1, admitted they were initially skeptical over Mark’s new role but was left “beyond impressed. Thank you for caring, it is so obvious how much you do and how seriously you are taking this role.”

A thread on the League of Legends subreddit describes the address as “the biggest Riot W in years,” pointing out how things like moving LCS back to weekends and the reduced intermissions are precisely what fans have been asking for. Ggardener_king added, “On top of that we got stuff that we didn’t even know we wanted. Chat interaction on stream, voting for interviews, observers focusing on fan favorite matchups, fearless draft in NACL etc.,” arguing that this is also a good sign for the League community as a whole.

“Even if you’re not a fan of the LCS this announcement was amazing news for you, because big picture it shows not only that Riot can actually be in touch with what the community wants, but also that they’re more committed to long-term health of the scene than most people gave them credit for.”

There are plenty more comments celebrating the changes and MarkZ’s involvement; Rawrch even called him “the leader we have been missing.” It’s important to remember that while he is the face of the LCS, he isn’t singlehandedly responsible for all these decisions. There’s obviously a whole team involved and it isn’t fair to attribute the LCS’ successes (nor its failures) to one guy.

But a cursory glance at the thread shows not every fan is completely satisfied. A couple are still disappointed to know franchising is still a thing, which many argue has harmed and destabilized the competitive scene. It’s not an issue unique to League; other competitive games are believed to have been affected by franchising, with it claimed to be why VALORANT’s tier two scene is dead.