Riot Games under fire after “horrifying” six-hour League of Legends series

League of Legends fans are blasting Riot Games after a “complete disaster” pro match ran for six hours due to technical difficulties.

In the League of Legends pro scene, many consider the Korean league to be among the most competitive, boasting some of the greatest in the game’s history. Aside from producing eight World Championship titles, the regional tourney is also home to Faker – who most LoL players consider the game’s GOAT player. 

For this year’s season opener, all ten partnered teams face each other in a double round-robin format, with six teams qualifying for the playoffs. But beyond the challenges within Summoners’ Rift, it seems like LCK players need to face another hurdle as technical difficulties plague the tournament. 

Most notably, the recent series between DRX and Dplus KIA reached an unbelievable six-hour mark after multiple tech pauses, with one tech pause being a dreary 40-minute long break. 

#LCK    has been on a pause for around 40 minutes

Kingen left the game, then DRX players reported a spike in ping. Reportedly, other players are also noticing this spike in ping pic.twitter.com/PcFLy4Q5gb

LCK pro match frustrates players and fans amid “chronic ping issues”

The first match alone went incredibly overtime, as the game took over two hours to complete. While some expected the 40-minute break to cover most of the issues, the technical hurdles persisted and led to another two-hour match in Game 2. 

The reason behind the extraordinary delay? Ping issues. Players from both teams reported to notice ping issues that caused the first tech pause. In a later announcement, LCK admitted to having “chronic ping issues” and chose to postpone the supposed next match between OKSavingsBank Brion and Kwangdong Freeks. 

Announcement regarding 2024 LCK Spring Match 49, 50 pic.twitter.com/MFpPOQJoOw