Riot Games announced on Thursday that the League of Legends Pro League spring winners will compete in the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational remotely as a result of complications due to the coronavirus pandemic. The game developer made this decision after discovering that LPL’s MSI representative will not be able to attend the event in person.
“Currently, the LPL is facing ongoing pandemic challenges,” Naz Aletaha, Global Head of LoL Esports, said in a statement. “As a result, the league’s MSI representative will be unable to travel to Busan, Korea. However, after extensive diligence performed by our technology, events and competitive operations teams, we are able to allow the qualifying LPL team to compete remotely from China.”
Ongoing coronavirus outbreaks troubled the LPL throughout the spring split, and the league had to postpone playoffs twice as well as the final that will determine the LPL Mid-Season Invitational participant. The spring final between Top Esports and Royal Never Give Up will take place remotely on Friday. Both teams will face each other in a best-of-five series for a chance to represent China and the LPL at the Mid-Season Invitational.
How China will play remotely at the Mid-Season Invitational 2022
Before making the decision to allow China to compete remotely, Riot considered several factors, according to a statement. These factors included infrastructure, safety, location and competitive integrity.
The LPL MSI representatives will participate from either the LPL Arena in Shanghai or the team’s training facility. The game developers will use a network latency tool to maintain a ping as close to 35ms for all MSI teams. Riot used the network latency tool during the 2020 Mid-Season Cup between China and South Korea.
Furthermore, Riot will ensure all MSI teams are able to practice and scrim at the new ping without restrictions. It will also deploy referee support and monitoring in both Korea and China throughout MSI. All these measures will be in place to keep the competitive integrity of the tournament.
The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational will take place from May 10-29 in Busan, South Korea with 11 teams involved.
