League of Legends in the Pacific region is kept alive by fans and local events, and Riot Games is doing their part.

Riot Games Philippines organizes $20,000 tournament Liga Republika

Liga Republika by Riot Games PH is a grassroots event, an evolution from the tournament from last year which culminated in an offline Grand Final during one of the country's biggest gaming conventions.

“Liga Republika reinforces our commitment to the Philippine esports and gaming community. Fueled by the success of last year’s Empyrean Cup in reigniting the League of Legends community in the country, rebranding the league to Liga Republika reinforces and sustains the momentum we gained, and elevate the esports scene in the Philippines through a healthier and more competitive league,” said Joel Guzman, Country Manager of Riot Games Philippines.

“We are committed to create a league that fosters a sense of pride, identity, and belonging for our players. And by evolving last year’s Empyrean Cup to Liga Republika, our hope is to give our players a league that they can proudly call [Filipino],” added Kimi Salazar, MOBA Brand Manager of Riot Games Philippines.

It will welcome a maximum of 384 teams from all across the country. Games will begin in May 2024 and will end in a standalone LAN event for the entirety of the playoffs. They will all compete for the $20,000

Highest Pro League Viewership in Years

The Pacific Championship Series Season 2024 reached a peak viewership of 130,000 viewers. This is higher than any of the previous PCS seasons in the past four years. This season, this peak viewership was hit during the playoffs match between Hong Kong team FRANK Esports and Japanese team Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS Gaming.

The high viewership of PCS Spring 2024 amounted to 6.5 million hours viewed throughout the whole season. This is already equal to the cumulative hours watched during the entire year of 2023 in the PCS.

This upward trend in viewership is true even in the Vietnam Championship Series, despite the massive match-fixing fiasco that occurred within the region this season.

The peak viewership of the VCS for Spring 2024 reached 312 thousand, the highest it has been in 4 years. Interestingly, while the peak viewership this season was over 50% higher than it was last season during VCS Dusk 2023, the cumulative hours watched for the entire season was only higher by less than 1%.

What's next for the League of Legends Pacific region?

Both the PCS and the VCS are sending one team each to this year's Mid-Season Invitational 2024 which begins May 1st, 2024. The PCS will be represented by PSG Talon while the VCS is sending GAM Esports.

PSG Talon and GAM Esports are both starting in the Play-In Stage. PSG Talon will be facing FlyQuest first, while GAM Esports will meet Fnatic.

During the Play-In stage, two wins will advance them to the Bracket Stage, and two losses will eliminate them from the tournament. Two teams from each of the two groups get to advance, while the rest is eliminated.

Generally, PSG Talon is widely accepted to be a powerful contender to advance from their group that contains FlyQuest, Estral Esports, and T1.

GAM Esports lost some of their players to indefinite suspension following their involvement in the region-wide match-fixing issue.

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