The North AmericanLeague of LegendsChampionship Series Players Association (NA LCSPA) hastoday announcedthat the league’s players have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a walk-out. Industrial action of this magnitude has until now been unprecedented in esports. This action comes on the back of Riot’s recent announcement that the league’s franchised teams would no longer be obliged to field an academy team to compete in the North American Challengers League (NACL), the LCS’s feeder competition. Should a team pursue this option, it would result in the academy team’s five players and their support staff potentially losing employment.

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Of the ten teams competing in the LCS, only three teams opted to retain their academy teams - Team Liquid, FlyQuest and Evil Geniuses. Phillip Aram, executive director of the PA, told Travis Gafford that Riotlied to themabout the future of the NACL, saying “We have been lied to. We were told throughout the process this year by many people at Riot saying changes were being considered for 2024, and that is not what has happened. I found out that they were going to do this the same way you found out.”

In its statement regarding the walk-out, the Players Association elaborated on the decision. “We stand at this impasse because actions were taken by Riot without prior communication or discussion with the LCS players. The LCSPA sincerely hopes Riot will avert this walk out by joining us in the coming days to have open and transparent discussions so that we can forge collaborative solutions to ensure the best futures for the LCS and NACL.”

In aprior tweet, the LCSPA outlined their asks of Riot which are as follows:

Valorant Challengers NA, that game’s equivalent of the LCS, currently employs a promotion/relegation format wherein the league’s bottom four teams are seeded into a relegation playoff, with the top two securing their spot in the league for another year as the bottom two are relegated. An open qualifier is then held to determine the two newly-promoted teams.

The LCS has yet to issue a response to the walk-out and in all likelihood the two entities will continue to negotiate in the coming days. The LCS summer split is scheduled to begin on June 1.

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