In the League of Legends the All-Star event took place in 2019. However, the viewership numbers were weak. German LoL pro Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider is actually pleased about it. Others also criticize Riot Games for the event: It had too many Twitch streamers, too few pros, and too much Teamfight Tactics .
What is the All-Stars event? The event took place from December 6 to 8 in Vegas. Here, Riot Games celebrates itself at the end of the year.
Fans from all regions can each choose 2 pro players to be sent there. Riot Games additionally invites more pros and “celebrities” from around the world to play against each other in some not-so-serious LoL formats. There are:
- 1vs1 matches
- URF competitions
- a tandem mode
- 5vs5 matches like NA vs EU or China vs Korea.
It should actually be a gigantic party.
2019 much fewer viewers than usual
That’s why the All-Star event 2019 is considered a flop: The viewership numbers for the All-Star event 2019 were much lower than in 2018. It was the least-watched event of its kind since 2016:
- In 2018, 6,490,876 hours were watched – with a peak of 565,909 viewers
- In 2019, it was only 4,126,052 hours – with only 293,351 viewers at peak
This is already a significant decline, as indicated by data from Esports Charts .
It can hardly be due to LoL itself, as a semifinal at the LoL Worlds 2019 was the most-watched eSports event of all time.
This shows that LoL 2019 has not lost any of its relevance, but the “All-Stars” event has.
This is what Amazing says: German LoL pro, Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider, is now a “Strategic Coach” for Misfits Gaming. He tweeted:
“To be honest, I am glad that the All-Stars flopped a bit this year. It should be an event to celebrate the dedication and hard work of our best players, not our most popular streamers.”
Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider on Twitter
Too many Twitch streamers – too few LoL pros
What does he mean by that? This year, only 2 pro players were directly chosen by fans per region.
From North America, about 3 pros were invited (Bang, CoreJJ, Sneaky), but there were 8 celebrities. These include Twitch streamers like Tyler1 or Yassu.
Other content creators like Disguised Toast or Hafu were also invited to the event, although they have little to do with LoL, but come from the Teamfight Tactics sector.
From Europe, there were 4 pros and 11 celebrities: Of the 4 pros, 3 came from G2 Esports (Jankos, Caps, and Mikyx).
These many Twitch streamers dilute the All-Star event significantly, as many believe. Zuma LoL streamer have “Twitch Rivals” as their own format to be seen there.
Additionally, both the most popular players from North America, DoubleLift and Bjergsen, were chosen for the event, but did not participate.
In their place, Bang and CoreJJ stepped in, who are Koreans who play in North America, but not for very long.
What else is being criticized? On Reddit, the All-Star event is being discussed critically. It is mentioned that at the All-Star event 2019, the LoL side mode “Teamfight Tactics” received too much attention. Although it is “fun to play, but boring to watch.
Also, the formats were not as exciting this year. Many fans would prefer if they could simply choose the top pros from each region. They want to see a team of stars like Rookie, Tian, TheShy, and Uzi – the streamers could then be kept for the “fun modes.”
Other viewers point out, however, that the “strongest LoL players” in December of a year, after 2 regular splits, the MSI, and Worlds have already played so many games that they should not be burdened with such an event.
