From September 26, 2025 to September 28, 2025, the LEC 2025 Summer Playoffs took place in Madrid in League of Legends. MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes had the opportunity to talk to Artem Bykov, the LEC Commissioner, about the European league, the community, and the challenges of e-sports.
The LEC Summer Playoffs are not just a tournament in Europe; they qualified 3 teams for Worlds 2025 and are a major event for the e-sports fans of the continent. E-sport and the community involve not just players, teams, or Riot itself. Fans are also an important factor.
I discussed this in the interview with Artem Bykov, who has been the LEC Commissioner for Riot since 2022 and not only speaks publicly about the LEC but also plays a significant role behind the e-sport scenes of the European region.
In the interview, we spoke with Artem Bykov about the importance of fans and what the biggest challenge to e-sports is, which seems to be in a crisis since 2023. The so-called e-sports winter
has been talked about for some time now. But the LEC head is convinced: LoL has come to stay.
Learn more about the e-sports crisis in this video:
The interaction between LEC and fans
MeinMMO: So, my first question. I find it very interesting how the fanbase of the LEC overall is. It is very passionate. I wanted to ask how the interaction between the fans and the LEC […] is, because sometimes you read something very toxic about some changes and how do you aaproach to interact with with it, how do you interact with the fanbase?
Artem Bykov: Sure. First of all, we listen to all feedback. We have told this to the fans. We read the feedback on social media. We look at the tweet, chats when people watch the LEC. So fan feedback is very important to us.
Sometimes it can be very loud and critical. Sometimes it is also true. But I also want to highlight that there are a lot LEC fans who are incredibly nice and you know, they send us postcards. They support us and they compliment on our work. So these interactions always bring me a lot of joy.
A little anecdote: One month before the show in Madrid, one of the fans reach out to me on X and asked if they could have their own area at our expo in Spain since they represented one of the fan clubs, where different fan clubs [could] exchange ideas, some had made stuff to support their teams, and they made it happen. And this type of interactions brings us a lot of joy and motivate everybody in the LEC team to create the best part possible.
MeinMMO: Yes, regarding this question. I think in League of Legends and also in the last years, many casual [players] started playing the game, and there are also those hardcore people who play this hardcore game. And maybe you have people just watching e-sports and not even playing. How do you approach the development of the LEC regarding these different crowds you have in your fanbase?
Artem Bykov: I started by saying that when we work on the LEC, our target audience that we are creating the product for are the League of Legends
players in the EMEA region who are already watching League esports. Whether they already watch the LEC, maybe they only watch international events, right? Maybe they also watch other leagues. So that is the target audience we trying to create the product for.
If, you know, other fans who want to join and watch with us, that is amazong. We also have a lot of fans from around the globe; our Vietnamese co-stream has really grown, our Korean co-stream has really grown which is great to see. And I think the beautiful thing about League and the world of Runeterra is that there are just many different ways to enjoy this world, to enjoy the game. My wife doesn’t play League of Legends, but she loves watching Arcane with me, which is great. And for me, this event in Spain this weekend [Note: September 26, 2025 to September 28, 2025], at which they will see the summer finals, is the moment of the year, where of course have the LEC final, the crown jewel of our competition.
But we also bring fans of League of Legends here so they can enjoy their favorite game and meet with their friends, enjoy cosplays and do fan meetups, try some other new games from the world of Runeterra. […] So for us this weekend is a perfect opportunity to celebrate League of Legends, the game. It doesn’t matter whether you play the game casually or are a hardcore fan who watches LEC, LCK, and other competitions.
Sense of community and the success of the LEC
MeinMMO: You spoke about the sense of community. How is it tied to the success of the LEC?
Artem Bykov: I mean, that is very important. At the start of the interview, we talked about how passionate our fans are. This is a huge privilege for us, and doing this super exciting activities for them is very important to fuel this passion. I recently did a few AMAs on X [Note: Ask Me Anything] with the fans and I was checking various people who’ve been following the LEC and previously EULCS for 10 years now, right? We are humbled that people follow us for so long and we feel as well responsible, you know, to create a product that is worthy over this fans
MeinMMO: One Part of the LEC is co-streaming, which got bigger and bigger last years. You talked with us last year about co-streaming and and you said you [saw it] as an opportunity to gain new fans for LEC. How do you feel about it now? Are that like maybe data or something like that, that you [can] see: oh, you gain so much more fans and new communities for the LEC.
Artem Bykov: I love where we are right now with co-streaming. I probably told you last year that we’ve been very deliberate with the program, right? Like year one, we only had a couple of selected cost streamers than for year two, we expanded a little bit.
For the Munich final last year, we actually for the first time really had like a big number of creators covering the LEC and we continued that in into winter split. We see that the results are great. We see it has positive impact on the viewership of the league.
It incentivizes creators to create content around the LEC. I love watching Jankos doing some really fun stunts and commentary around the LEC, and he’s actually here co-streaming from the arena this weekend, which is amazing. And it of course opens the door for fans outside of EMEA to watch the LEC. EMEA is already a huge region, more than 100 countries. So it’s hard for us to have official broadcast partners like all around the globe. We now have co-streamers and we have fans now watching it in Korea or Vietnam, which is great to see.
The future of e-sports
MeinMMO: I guess like the last years often people talk about eSport and that it’s declining, especially after COVID and like I don’t know 2022, 2023 what’s like [called] eSport winter. What do you think is the most difficult challenge for league eSport in the future?
Artem Bykov: When I get this question from friends, the first thing I tell them that I have da deep belief that e-sports is here to stay. You are here this weekend right at the event, and I am sure that you see the passion of the fans, you know it is not just a blip.
So I’m sure that e-sports is here to stay. To your question about what our biggest challenge is: LoL e-sports is the leading sport, right? And there are many expectations on us. We have talked about how passionate our fans are. They have been with us for more than a decade. I think the challenge for us is how can we build a sustainable ecosystem while at the same time delivering something that is worthy of those passionate fans who love our game and have been following our sport for many years.
Streamers and the appeal of League of Legends
MeinMMO: What I find very interesting, also connected to the topics we talked before: In Germany, last year and prior to that, many people started playing and streaming the game that arent in that hardcore crowd. […] I think every e-sport game is regarded as a very hard game you get into. […] Many people started playing League because of the streamers, and even so it is considered so difficult and hard. Why do you think, after all these years, I mean, League of Legends is a very old game, why do people still start playing this game?
Artem Bykov: I´m gonna give you a very personal answer. I´m a very passionate gamer myself. I play a lot. And one thing I find quite difficult is that games ask a lot from you, right? They ask a lot of time, and sometimes the game gets boring, and you never really learned the game, and then in one year it is gone, right?
League is one of those games: That has been out here for [16] years. So when they look at League of Legends, they know it is a game that is proven by time, is loved by fans all around the world. Variety player for us are at the center of everything. And I hope that fans see it that Riot takes them seriously and tries to [provide] them with the best possible experience. It’s really exciting to join this community. […]
I mean, Arcane was a huge moment that made a lot of my friends very passionate about League of Legends or at least having some interest to learn more about this. Whenever I go to the LEC finals or national events I am super hyped that I go back home and start to play more League. I think we are really lucky that the League of Legends
community has so many opportunities to celebrate the game and alsobring new people into the community.
Favorite games and the best skin for Renekton
MeinMMO: You said that you are a very passionate gamer. Do you have like an all-time favorite game outside of League Legends?
Artem Bykov: I love playing a lot of strategys. I would say I play strategy games. I play a lot of board games. But I am really a passionate gamer, like a variety gamer. I enjoy competitive titles, right? But I also love to play some indie games, some solo games. I would say these days I mostly play multiplayer games, like real life ones or online because it’s a great opportunity for me to spend time both with playing and spend time with my friends or my family.
MeinMMO: Reagrding League of Legends, do you have a favorite champion that you really love to play or that you want to see in pro play?
Artem Bykov: So, I am a Renekton main. I think on my Wild Rift account I have like a 15 games win streak, maybe even higher, so I´m like not touching to break. But yeah, I generally play either top lane or jungle.
MeinMMO: Those are my roles too. Maybe last question: What is the best Rekenkton skin?
Artem Bykov: What is the best Renekton skin? Uh, that’s a good one. I think the one I have played the most is the one that looks like a summer skin [Poolparty Renekton].
MeinMMO: I believe it is the community favorite.
Artem Bykov: Exactly.
MeinMMO: Thank you for the interview.
Artem Bykov: Thank you very much. Thanks for the nice questions.
League of Legends has been captivating many players since 2009 and the many events and the series Arcane show how relevant the world of Runeterra is in gaming. But sometimes the darker sides of the community also show: A player plays LoL only once with his friends and wants to give up the whole game.
