Mentioned in this article
- Riot Games will combine its current League of Legends professional league for Southeast Asia with that of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau.
- The new 10-team league will be named the Pacific League Championship Series (PCS), with details on participants, format, and schedule to be revealed.
- Both existing competitions are part of a cooperation between Riot and regional game distributor Garena.
League of Legends publisher Riot Games will combine two of its professional competitions in the Asian market, creating the Pacific League Championship Series (PCS). The League Master Series (LMS), which features teams from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, will join with the League of Legends Southeast Asia Tour (LST), featuring teams from Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The PCS will feature 10 teams and launches in 2020. The LMS and LST each currently field eight teams in 2019, but the announcement did not state how or which teams would qualify for the PCS, or if the new league would feature a promotion-relegation structure. This, along with the schedule of the competition, will be announced in 2020.
The announcement stated that “centralizing the competitive ecosystem will also increase business and media opportunities for teams.” Currently, the LMS is able to qualify three teams for the League of Legends World Championships, while LST only sends one team to the tournament’s play-in stage. It should be noted that the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) will remain an independent region.
Both the LMS and LST are run in partnership with Garena, a gaming and esports platform from Sea—an internet service company focusing on Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Garena licenses a number of games from its shareholder Tencent Holdings (also Riot’s parent company), including League of Legends, Arena of Valor, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, and the FIFA Online series.
