In recent years, LCK is famous as the area producing many talented young players. Not far away, the players who have just won the 2023 World Championship such as Oner, Zeus, Gumayusi are all “homegrown” products of T1. Closer we have Peyz is also discovered by Gen.G when we are young talent and training to become the current star.
Peyz was discovered by Gen.G and Tao became a bright star at LCK
However, it is worth mentioning that the CEO Gen.G – Arnold recently posted an article revealing the situation of alarming talent shortage at LCK in particular and League of Legends in general. According to the “big boss” Gen.G, leaders of big teams at LCK are very worried about this situation. Even CEO Arnold also revealed that they (Gen.G) can find the amount of talent in Valorant 3-4 times higher than that of League of Legends.
Gen.G CEO has recently revealed about the shortage of talent in the LCK area
“I recently discussed with the owner, the coach, even the players of the teams at LCK. We are quite worried about the shortage of talent for League of Legends, even in the Korean region. When it comes to talent, I mean at the trainee level, before they get the capacity in squad 2 and become a star like Quid, Delight or Peyz.
More and more young gamers have innate talent and professional competition to choose another game instead of League of Legends. For example, we can have a professional talent in the future 3-4 times higher at Valorant when compared to League of Legends ” – CEO Arnold shared.
Gen.G CEO said that even in LCK, the new talent shortage is quite serious: “We are quite worried about the shortage of talent for League of Legends, even in the Korean region. When it comes to talent, I mean at the trainee level, before they get the capacity in squad 2 and become a star like Quid, Delight or Peyz. Professional fighting choose another game instead of League of Legends.
Not only Gen.G CEO, Riot recently confirmed the same problem with League of Legends in general. According to PC Gamers, Riot revealed that the average age of League of Legends gamers is increasing while the number of new players is seriously reduced. Obviously, when the number of new people choosing to stick with Lo Lo Lo League is less, the young talent of professional teams will also decline.
The longtime lmht developer in Riot has recently revealed to the PC Gamers: “The average age of League of Legends gamers is getting bigger and bigger with too few new gamers. We are no longer in the same situation with 10 years ago”
Also according to the sharing from Riot, the main reason for this situation is that gamers have too many options next to LoL. It should be known that League of Legends is becoming more and more complicated, difficult to reach new gamers when the amount of knowledge about the game becomes too huge. Moreover, League of Legends in recent years has also launched new generals, new equipment and making this amount of knowledge inherently more vigorous.
Meanwhile, in the case of Valorant, this game is essentially a shooter (FPS), so the approach is not too difficult. Moreover, the skills of the agents in Valorant are also designed quite simply and gamers can understand them after a short time. Therefore, it is understandable that many new gamers to play Valorant instead of League of Legends are also understandable.
Valorant is still essentially a shooter (FPS) with a much easier approach than MOBA game like League of Legends
To be fair, League of Legends still possess a huge number of loyal players. Moreover, the young training system of the teams (especially in LCK) is increasingly concerned after the success of “homegrown” products such as Zeus, Gumayusi, Peyz … so in the short -term future, the shortage of new players has not created too great impact.
The “homegrown” players of T1 over the years have created bold marks
However, if this situation still happens continuously for a long time, it will bring many negative impacts to the professional LoL village. Maybe the tournament will go down when the old stars retire but there is no worthy replacement. Hopefully Riot Games and eSports will soon take the necessary measures to solve this new “hunger” situation of League of Legends.