Three high-profile freelance League of Legends e-sports casters are effectively boycotting the Mid-Season Invitational, claiming Riot Games “failed to arrive at an industry standard rate” for their services in Shanghai. MonteCristo, DoA, and PapaSmithy allege that Riot offered them only 40%-70% of the “rate received by talent for major events” for other major e-sports titles, including Dota 2 and Hearthstone, and would not meet what the trio considered the industry standard, leading them to refuse to cast for the MSI.
“[B]y agreeing to a significantly lower wage we fear that we may contribute to the regression of standards for freelance casters in the industry as a whole,” the group said in its statement apologizing to fans for their decision not to participate.
In other League of Legends news, Riot has formally released Aurelion Sol, a gorgeous and spooky celestial-themed mid-range AOE mage hero, and MMO Culture reports that Tencent has released the official theme song for the Chinese version of the game, featuring Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou. The videos for both are below.
