| Player | Country | Club/Team |  Followers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Søren Bjerg (Bjergsen) | Denmark | Team SoloMid | 604,000 |
| 2. | Enrique Martínez (xPeke) | Spain | Origen | 596,000 |
| 3. | Yiliang (Peter) Peng (Doublelift) | United States | Team SoloMid | 393,000 |
| 4. | Jason Tran (WildTurtle) | Canada | Immortals | 376,000 |
| 5. | Hai Du Lam (Hai) | United States | Cloud9 | 297,000 |
| 6. | Henrik Hansen (Froggen) | Denmark | Echo Fox | 270,000 |
| 7. | Martin Larsson (Rekkles) | Sweden | fnatic | 258,000 |
| 8. | Bora Kim (Yell0wStaR) | France | Team SoloMid | 256,000 |
| 9. | Zachary Scuderi (Sneaky) | United States | Cloud9 | 244,000 |
| 10. | Felipe Gooncalves (brTT) | Brazil | paiN Gaming | 196,000 |
| 11. | Zaqueri Black (Aphromoo) | United States | CLG | 184,000 |
| 12. | Paul Boyer (sOAZ) | France | Origen | 181,000 |
| 13. | Alexey Ichetovkin (Alex Ich) | Russia | Renegades | 166,000 |
| 14. | An Le (Balls) | United States | Cloud9 | 160,000 |
| 15. | Gabriel Santos (Kami) | Brazil | paiN Gaming | 157,000 |
| 16. | Darshan Upadhyaha (Darshan) | United States | CLG | 144,000 |
| 17. | Maurice Stückenschneider (Amazing) | Germany | Origen | 132,000 |
| 18. | Eugene Justice Park (Pobelter) | United States | Immortals | 121,000 |
| 19. | Fabian Diepstraten (Febiven) | Netherlands | fnatic | 104,000 |
| 20. | Alberto Rengifo (Crumbzz) | Venezuela | Renegades | 103,000 |
The most famous League of Legends pro players on twitter
The most famous League of Legends pro players on facebook (ordered by likes)
| Player | Country | Club/Team |  Likes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lee Sang-hyeok (Faker) | South Korea | SK Telecom T1 | 806,000 |
| 2. | Felipe Gooncalves (brTT) | Brazil | paiN Gaming | 507,000 |
| 3. | Gabriel Santos (Kami) | Brazil | paiN Gaming | 504,000 |
| 4. | Enrique Cedeño Martínez (xPeke) | Spain | Origen | 415,000 |
| 5. | Zachary Scuderi (Sneaky) | United States | Cloud9 | 376,000 |
| 6. | Martin Larsson (Rekkles) | Sweden | fnatic | 364,000 |
| 7. | Søren Bjerg (Bjergsen) | Denmark | Team SoloMid | 296,000 |
| 8. | Yiliang Peng (Doublelift) | United States | Team SoloMid | 238,000 |
| 9. | Alexey Ichetovkin (Alex Ich) | Russia | Renegades | 217,000 |
| 10. | Tường Vũ Nguyễn (QTV) | Vietnam | Boba Marines | 213,000 |
| 11. | Liu Shu-Wei (Westdoor) | Taiwan | ahq e-Sports Club | 210,000 |
| 12. | Bora Kim (Yell0wStaR) | France | Team SoloMid | 210,000 |
| 13. | Jason Tran (WildTurtle) | Canada | Immortals | 181,000 |
| 14. | Henrik Hansen (Froggen) | Denmark | Echo Fox | 172,000 |
| 15. | Felipe Noronha (Yoda) | Brazil | CNB e-Sports Club | 123,000 |
| 16. | Paul Boyer (sOAZ) | France | Origen | 116,000 |
| 17. | Gustavo Alves (Minerva) | Brazil | KaBuM! e-Sports | 113,000 |
| 18. | Hai Du Lam (Hai) | United States | Cloud9 | 106,000 |
| 19. | Park Tae Jin (Winged) | South Korea | Jin Air Green Wings | 99,000 |
| 20. | Heo Seung-hoon (Huni) | South Korea | Immortals | 86,000 |
eSports Gamer Revolution
If you’re still unsure about what the hell is going on with this gamer revolution, you should really check out VICE’s thorough five-part ‘eSports‘ series which investigates this emerging global phenomenon.
Let's look at the people involved in the eSports gamer revolution:
Pro-gamers
The ones who get paid to play. Samsung White, Dignitas, Fnatic, Team Liquid and Rascal Jesters are a few of the more famous professional gaming squads, in which the brightest young men (and maybe the occasional woman?) train daily to become the best video game players in the world. Despite their parents’ inevitable protestations, they make a decent living, with the top players earning over $100k a year, whilst others generate millions as they become international sports brands. They usually embark on this career path in the most formative years of their lives, dropping out of school or university to compete.
Samsung White
Dignitas
Fnatic
Team Liquid
Rascal Jesters
Cos-players
In addition to the humans who want to play the characters, there are also the humans who want to be them. We’re in this strange place where, if you drop some dosh on creating an elaborate costume, you can actually become a professional virtual character, an online presence in the real world. There are teams of these people, who are making careers out of dressing up, parading at events as mascots, posing for photographs and becoming the ‘cheerleaders’ of eSports. Women’s outfits can be particularly revealing, you wouldn’t guess at the traditionally male gamership.
Manager “Coaches”
They enlist players, they make merchandise, they ‘train’ their players, they make cash. Nuff said.
Amateur Gamers
The video-gaming public, tapping away at controllers in millions of homes and internet cafes around the world.
The movement is vast – League of Legends has 27 million players, the FIFA franchise has generated more than $6 billion USD since it launched in 1993, Twitch has accumulated 55m unique monthly users and “Leeeeeroy Jenkins” has 43,925,767 views and counting.
It’s a fun and satisfying pursuit – many even suggest that video games can actually boost analytical skills and reaction times.
And if you still in any doubt as to the scale of the revolution, watch the blinding vision of the League of Legends’ World Championships – held in the gigantic World Cup stadium – complete with Korean drum ceremony, American rock band, Olympic-style graphics of the players, fireworks, commentators, pres junkets, paparazzi and a $1m prize. It’s an incredible spectacle as the Samsung Whites claim their momentous victory.
History’s arenas have seen chariots raced through the dust, gladiators fighting to the death, maimed war veterans sweating through the Paralympics, bull fights, rodeo, the World Cup Finals, celebrating humanity’s glorious physical prowess. Now the twenty first century offers ten eSports gamers in various degrees of scrawn and podge.
Are these gamers to be the sport legends of our time?
Cloud9 Filed a Form D for 3$ Million in Equity Funding
Yesterday, November 23, Cloud9 executives filed a “Form D” notice with an offering amount of $3 million in equity, of which $2.86 are already sold to 21 investors.
The offering has not been made in connection with a business transaction, such as a merger or acquisition, according to the document. A nominal value of the issuer size has not been disclosed. The document dates 2016 as the year of Cloud9 Esports’ incorporation, although, the team was initially founded in early 2013.
Form D is used to file a notice of an exempt offering of securities with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Commission rules require the notice to be filed by companies that have sold securities without registration under the Securities Act of 1933. Such an offering is based on a claim of exemption, in Cloud9’s case Regulation D – Rule 506(b). To qualify for Rule 506(b) a company must:
- not use general solicitation or advertising to market the securities;
- not sell securities to more than 35 non-accredited investors;
- give non-accredited investors specified disclosure documents that generally contain the same information as provided in registered offerings;
- be available to answer questions from prospective purchasers who are non-accredited investors; and
- provide financial statement information.
Commission rules further require the notice to be filed within 15 days after the first sale of securities in the offering. While the main purpose of a “Form D” filing is to notify federal authorities of the amount and nature of the offering being undertaken, Cloud9’s rationale could be to assure its stakeholders (partners, players, sponsors, etc.) that the organisation is in a good spot.
Aside of that, Cloud9 now has solid financials to strive for a successful year 2017. For instance, with Blizzard’s Overwatch league on the horizon, the organisation has filled its pockets to participate in the bidding for slots—which is expected to start early next year. Following investments like the Sixers purchasing a controlling share in Team Dignitas and investment group aXiomatic buying into Team Liquid earlier the year, many organizations find themselves in fierce competition for big money. Apparently Cloud9 has found some success in that regard.
Riot Games is close to finalize a $200 million streaming rights deal with MLBAM
The LA Times reports that Riot Games is close to finalize a $200 million streaming rights deal with MLBAM. An earlier report by Sports Business Daily quoted anonymous sources on a deal worth $90 million annually. However, LA Times reporter Paresh David invokes two sources close to the deal, reporting even $200 million over two years. The story had first come to light by a report from ELEAGUE host Richard Lewis, only recently decorated eSports Journalist of the Year by UK’s eSports Industry Awards.
While it’s still unclear how the deal turns out in detail, a lot of discussion has arisen about the possibility of its exclusivity. According to the LA Times, Riot and MLBAM are working on a dedicated app to showcase League of Legends competitions in the future. As a result, Riot’s dependency from Twitch and other livestreaming platforms would decrease. However, it could be a risky approach as well. LA Times quotes Eliot Kent-Uritam, director of media and analytics at ad agency Nice & Co. who keeps a keen eye on the development.
“If they are cutting people off, is it going to make the game a less popular thing? What could be the worst long-term thing is doing something that makes people less interested,” Kent-Uritam told LA Times.
SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen weighed in as well, arguing that Riot could offer a fee-based subscription model and furthermore attract advertisers to monetise the application. Turning away from the likes of Twitch and YouTube completely would be bold but not unenforceable regarding Riot’s monopolistic position when it comes to League esports. More likely, though, is a transition process where both—livestreaming and the new app—exist next to each other over a certain period of time. Sports Business Daily had one source stating that Riot had assured its streaming partners to have games in 2017.
After that, nobody knows what’s next. Presumably not even Riot Games.
Top10 Highest Earning eSports Players – Infographic
The top10 highest earning eSports players infographic
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