Disaster strikes LEC as tech issues shut down Grand Final stream
Michal Konkol/Riot GamesThe LEC Grand Final between MAD Lions KOI and G2 Esports is one of the most important games of the year for European League of Legends, and the match’s main stream went down for several minutes during some of the most important moments in Game 4.
The fandoms behind teams like Karmine Corp and MAD Lions KOI have caused LEC viewership to drastically increase despite the narrative around decreasing viewership within the League of Legends ecosystem.
However, Riot layoffs hit the LEC hard despite success within the league, with many concerned about how these layoffs would affect the broadcast going forward.
Though tech issues have been significantly reined in since the initial layoffs, disaster struck when the LEC stream was down for almost 10 minutes during the last match of the Grand Final between G2 and MAD Lions KOI. And, while it eventually went back up, many viewers missed the most important parts of the last game.
LEC fans flock to co-streams as main broadcast dies
Oddly enough, the interruptions only affected the main LEC stream. The screen went black for a few minutes on the main stream, followed by it being taken down entirely for a bit longer before going up as G2 was pushing for the win on the Nexus.
For some, they missed those sections of the match. People hosting big watch parties and using Smart TVs or apps on their console have a much harder time changing the channel to a co-streamer, meaning some were just stuck with a dead stream.
However, over 100k viewers flocked to Caedrel’s stream in the meantime. The broadcast was uninterrupted for him, and LEC viewership didn’t recover for the few minutes that remained of the match. Ultimately, Caedrel ended up with around 175k peak viewers as a result of the LEC stream going down.
Right after the stream went down, Yike pulled off a Pentakill that ended up changing the tide of the match. Considering that this led to a win for G2, the main broadcast missing one of the most hype moments of the year so far is some incredibly unfortunate timing.
It’s fortunate that the co-streamers were around to keep the show going for passionate fans, but viewers being unable to see the most important moments of the game on the main stream isn’t a great look considering the ever-growing popularity of co-streamers.
Considering this occurred while news of the LEC layoffs is still fairly fresh, its made abundantly clear that the missing personnel have left the team tasked with putting on a show at this scale reeling.
