KeSPA president on League of Legends World Championship boycott: miscommunications and future plans

In response to recent dissatisfaction by Korean League of Legends fans and a growing movement to boycott the upcoming world championships, Korean eSports Association (KeSPA) president Byung-hyun Jeon has made an official statement.

(See: Is Korea boycotting the worlds? A fan reaction to the League of Legends S4 World Championship)

In it, he talks about Riot Games, past miscommunications, and the future. Most importantly, he reveals plans for an international League of Legends pro tournament between China and Korea in 2015.

The full statement is quite long, so here is a key summary:

• KeSPA thought the League of LegendsSeason 4 World Championships would all be held in Seoul, Korea. The organization was only notified by Riot Games in March regarding the group qualifiers’ Southeast Asia location, but by then, a lot of work had already been done with the Ministry of Culture, the city of Seoul, and other organizations to find appropriate venues.

• KeSPA was also worried about the condition of players and having to constantly travel. Even within their organization there were people who believed that they should cancel all of the venues and boycott the event.

• In the end, KeSPA agreed to Riot’s decision. It hopes interest generated by the SEA/China audience in the group will extend to Korea in the finals, thus increasing its global reach and allowing the continued development of eSports to place Korea as its core.

• KeSPA plans to hold a ‘LoL Korean-Chinese Professional Team Exhibition’ in 2015, inviting the best Chinese and Korean Professional teams.

• KeSPA also plan on creating an ‘Asia Cup’, where Korea, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia compete against each other in LOL, Starcraft 2, Crossfire, Blade and Soul, and other games.

The official statement in Korean can be found on PGR21 and Inven. The full translated statement can be found below thanks to Paravine:

Subject: [LOL] A Letter from KeSPA – Regarding the 2014 World Championship Announcement

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