Shopify is entering the League of Legends sand. On Wednesday, Shopify announced that its esports brand Rebellion will acquire TSM’s spot in the League Championship Series (LCS), the US professional circuit. League of Legends electronic sports.
The move marks a major changing of the guard in the LCS. TSM, one of the largest esports organizations in the world, started as a fight League of Legends equipment; The acronym TSM stands for Team SoloMid, which refers to a single League of Legends player who occupies the middle lane of the game’s multi-front map. By the mid-2010s, TSM was one of the most successful teams in the LCS, and the organization entered other esports, hiring Twitch streamers and even I bought an esports app.
But TSM has had some problems lately. His LCS team has not been as successful in League (off of an impressive streak in 2020). TSM CEO and founder Andy Dinh was fined and placed on probation for two years. League of Legends developer Riot Games after an investigation found that “there was a pattern and practice of derogatory and intimidating behavior exhibited by Dinh” toward TSM staff and players. The organization was forced to pull out of a $210 million deal with FTX after the crypto company collapsed.
Then in March sports business journal reported that TSM was considering ditching his LCS teamand in May, TSM announced that it was looking to sell its spot in the LCS and compete in League of Legends in another region. “I think moving to another region will rekindle our hunger to do whatever it takes to win a world championship,” Dinh he said in a video about the change.
Shopify Rebellion will compete in the LCS starting in 2024. “Enter League of Legends “One of the biggest esports titles, with a rich competitive history, seemed like an obvious next step to us as we continue to grow our presence in esports,” Dario “TLO” Wünsch of Shopify Rebellion. said in a statement. The organization also competes in games like dota 2, valorantand rocket league.
TSM has not said where it might end up filing a League of Legends next team. But the organization is already positioning itself as a global brand. “TSM is a movement that unites us all no matter who we are or where we come from.” TSM wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “From North America and Europe to South America and Asia, our hearts beat in unison.”
TSM’s move to Shopify Rebellion isn’t the only recent loss of a historic LCS brand. NRG Esports acquired Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) in April and took over CLG’s LCS position. But that turmoil has a happy ending: the new NRG defeated Cloud9 in a big upset for win the 2023 LCS Summer Split Championship.
