On October 9th, Riot Games announced that the Oceanic Pro League will no longer continue its operations as a League of Legends competitive series. With the OPL dissolved, there is a giant void left in the League of Legends esports industry. Both fans and the people directly involved with functions within the OPL have shared their grief regarding the loss of such a historic region. How will League of Legends proceed in Oceania now that their competitive League has been dissolved and discontinued?
The Reason That Got OPL dissolved
The dissolution of the Oceanic Pro League was brought about by the failure of the region meeting the standard of being a competitive League of Legends circuit per Riot Games criteria. Even though the region performed really well in the Worlds 2020 Play-in stage, their overall viewership, commercial standing, and interest was way below what other regions have achieved so far. To simplify it, the OPL can no longer fund its competitive tournaments due to the lack of resources to do so.
OPL Esports Teams, Players, and Staff
The announcement of the OPL dissolved was especially harsh on OPL Pros and staff that worked with the OPL directly. For the staff, they will have to find new careers since they will no longer have a place to work with. They still have a bit of time before they’re completely laid off but it might be difficult for most of them to find jobs in the same industry. It’s a massive loss for the employees especially in today’s time.
Esports teams still have the option to compete in non-Riot Games sponsored tournaments and are still actually eligible to compete in MSI and other Riot Tournaments. OPL Players are now considered to be part of the LCS, they will not consume an import slot and can compete with teams who recruit them. Unfortunately, this means that they’ll have to leave their country to live in North America if they want to practice or play with their team.
What will happen to League of Legends in the OCE?
Nothing. League of Legends in Australia will continue as normal since only the competitive league was revoked due to the lack of resources. Riot Games servers share most of their resources with other servers so there is no reason to remove the entirety of the server altogether. However, it may affect the competitiveness of the region especially for rising talents that wanted to compete professionally in the first place.
For some, League of Legends is just a game they can play on their free time with their friends. There are others who find their reason to play League of Legends in the fact that they plan to compete at Worlds someday. With the OPL dissolved, it might affect the player’s overall player base and cause a small decline in the server’s population. Of course, a small decline won’t be enough to cause the server to be shut down.
Can I still play in the OCE server?
Yes, you can. Whether you’re from the OCE or planning to play there from outside the region, you can enjoy playing in the OCE even with the OPL dissolved. Get a head-start in playing on the OCE servers by purchasing a Level 30 Unranked OCE Smurf Account here at LolFinity. With these accounts, you can enjoy countless benefits such as having a certain amount of champions and capsules which are readily available for you to use.
Moving Forward
It’s not the end. Even with OPL dissolved, League of Legends in the region will continue to prosper and give its players a lot of things to look forward to. Streamers in particular aren’t affected by this change because they are not tied directly to the competitive series so that career option is still open if they plan to pursue League of Legends as their main career. That is not to say that the transition will be easy for everyone at the OCE.
For OPL fans, you can still watch over the success of your players via the LCS. Now that players from the region are considered LCS natives, their success should be yours as well. Being a fan of a player means that you will be able to accept their decisions no matter what. Unfortunately, most of the organizations within the OCE won’t be able to compete in the LCS since there will only be limited slots that they can incorporate.
OPL Players in the LCS
The LCS is a region known for accepting talent from all around the world. The only thing that stopped them in the past about not adding more diversity in their roster is the limitation of import slots. With OPL players being considered as LCS players, you can expect a lot of your favorite players in the region being scouted by big names in the industry. You might even finally see them play in the group stage after all these years.
There are already developing players from the OCE who are playing in the LCS. Some of these names include: Ryoma, Shernfire, FBI, and even more in the LCS Academy! Players from your region are very welcome to play in the LCS and might be what the region need to finally be able to compete with the other 3 Major regions at the world stage. After what Legacy Esports showed in the Play-In stage, there is much potential for the OCE yet.
Why was the OPL dissolved?
The OPL was dissolved due to the failure of meeting Riot Games standards and expectations for the league in terms of marketing and viewership. The region only capped 51,000 viewers which is significantly lower compared to the next regions which can go up to 100,000 viewers.
What will happen to OPL players?
OPL players may choose to stay with their respective organizations to compete in non-Riot Games competitions or they can choose to pursue careers in other regions such as the LCS where they are considered native players.