'Garbage' Games Are Ruining The LCS Claims Montecristo
With LCS viewership declining, Montecristo has slammed the 'garbage' state of games.
04th Mar 2022 12:35
Image via ESL
'Garbage' Games Are Ruining The LCS Claims Montecristo
With LCS viewership declining, Montecristo has slammed the 'garbage' state of games.
04th Mar 2022 12:35
Image via ESL
Western League of Legends is in dire straights after the last 12 months of competition has seen the East go from strength to strength and assert their global dominance. After the 2021 calendar season ended with the worst collective performance from the LEC (Europe) and LCS (North America) at Worlds, the new regional seasons have got the ball rolling, although it seems to have hit the post.
With the LCK (Korea) thriving again as Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and his deadly T1 side have embarked on a formidable unbeaten run (and breaking records left, right, and centre), over in North America, the LCS is struggling to find any momentum, and fans are seemingly turning away from their screens.
LCS Viewership Down Bad
The LCS' viewership has been on a steady decline for the last four years, although a wealth of organisations have been looking to the new season to start ramping up the pressure and using their sway to pull in more fans.
However, the statistics after ten rounds of games are considerably lower than the same time last year, and some minor regions are even overtaking the North American region.
A peak viewership of 262,000 doesn't look too shabby for the LCS to start the season off, but compared to a 341,000 peak at the same time last year, the cause for concern is validated (per esports charts).
Cloud9's opening fixture against Evil Geniuses has set the most eyeballs on it so far, whilst TSM, notorious for a huge following, have seen their views be slashed by over a third.
Montecristo Blames 'Garbage' Games For Poor LCS Viewership
Whilst many may look towards TSM's abysmal 1-8 start for being the main reason for a drop in viewership - having carried the recent years figures - popular caster and Cloud9 content creator Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles has claimed the "garbage" games as the main reason fans are not watching.
Speaking in a Dexerto show, the popular personality said, "I think people are sick of the games being garbage. I think people are sick of no real international results or hope anymore. The most we could expect, on a very good year, is a semi-final run."
Having seen the LEC, LCS, and even the minor Brazilian league of CBLoL eclipse the LCS in viewership, Monte explained that the global improvements have lead to more entertaining fixtures, which people in NA are gravitating towards.
"The LEC is much more fun to watch from a production standpoint and it’s much more fun to watch from a gameplay standpoint. Then obviously tons of people watch the LCK as well, which has much better gameplay and a good production that they keep upgrading. It’s hard to justify watching the LCS," he continued.
Even the second-tier European regional leagues have rivalled the LCS, as a pre-season show match between Karmine Corp and Solary hit 221,000 peak fans, and the Week Four fixture of KOI vs Team Heretics peaked at 218,000 - both just 40,000 against the biggest game in North America. In comparison, the top-tier LEC fixture between G2 and Excel Esports doubled the LCS' stats, hitting an impressive 527,000 viewers.
Whether it needs a TSM overhaul, or a complete rise in standards across the LCS board, something needs to change to revive North American League of Legends.
About The Author
Jack Marsh
Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.
