Photos of competitive League events will not be as easy to come by as they used to be.
A new partnership on the horizon
The LCS announced a new partnership on Wednesday with ESPAT AI, a startup focused on esports and gaming media licensing, in a move that signaled a push for monetizing licensed content ahead of the LCS Summer Split and caused concern among members of the media and content creators.
Going forward, the ESPAT AI page will serve as the LCS’s digital archive, and all future photos will be located on that page. In an email circulated to media containing instructions for accessing the photos, media were told that the LoL Esports Flickr library would eventually be phased out of use, and photos would eventually migrate to ESPAT AI’s platform.
The partnership will go into effect starting with this upcoming Summer Split, with a number of photos from the Mid-Season Invitational already available on the ESPAT AI website.
The cost of licensing was a contentious point for members of the media. The site lists photos of PSG Talon at MSI for $100 USD per photo, which media members felt was expensive for the amount of pay that many freelancers receive for writing articles or creating videos about the LCS.
Media members who received the instructional email were also told that they would be “whitelisted” for the site, meaning that they would be able to use licensed photos for free up until Lock-In 2022. Additionally, ESPAT AI would also make a small number of photos available for free for general use and create packages that would slash the prices for groups of photos purchased, and when in-person press returned, there would be no changes to on-site photo privileges for credentialed media.
Licensing decision causes controversy
Travis Gafford, a veteran member of LCS and broader professional League of Legends media, published a YouTube video detailing his thoughts on the move and described the attempts to monetize the photos as “misguided.” The video, as of this article’s publication, has over 21,000 views.
“There’s a ton of independent content creators out there that are creating esports content, telling stories, and trying to drum up interest in this league, in a year in which we have a lot of veterans that have left. I think content creators and esports media folks are incredibly important right now”.
Travis Gafford on the controversy
“It is, I think, crazy for Riot [Games] to think this is a great way for them to make money,” Gafford added.
Head of Esports Partnerships for NA & OCE at Riot Games, Matt Archambault, said in a statement sent to Gamelevate that he understood the partnership “may have come as a surprise to the LCS community.”
In the statement, Archambault addressed concerns about access while also emphasizing that access to photos would not be reduced because of the move.
“We value the community’s feedback and want this platform to service every part of the LCS media ecosystem, for the long term. We’ll continue listening and factoring in community comments as we put in place free and flexible photo options on the new platform.”
Matt Archambault’s statement
