HOW THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS TOOK OVER SHANGHAI DURING A PANDEMIC

Now, how did that happen? Worlds 2020 arguably went down in history as one of the most surreal by far, but also as the most important one since its beginnings. Having produced a massive event with the look and feel of the ‘mother of all summits’ is a feather in the cap for Riot Games.

The likelihood of playtime on the Rift had almost been snuffed by China banning all sporting events for the rest of the year, and the COVID-19 cases on the rise yet again made it no easier. Heck, all major esports events such as The International Dota 2 world championship and all the other CS:GO Majors had been pushed back into 2021, why wouldn’t a bigger event such as the League of Legends Worlds 2020 also get the ax? Doom swung merrily like Cyrus on a wrecking ball above their heads.

And yet, Riot Games managed to whip up the massiveness of it all; despite the odds, Korean team DAMWON Gaming took on Chinese team Suning in a best of five match, and the number of fans in attendance was in the thousands.

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It’s a COVID World!

Trevor “Quickshot” Henry, the On-Air talent manager and caster at Riot Games, has a few things to say about the championship. “It’s definitely been the most challenging World Championship to date,” he said. “I think after 2020 and after the impact that COVID has had on absolutely everyone around the world, it’s been draining and it’s been challenging and frankly, it’s been a bit sad. You know, we lost both VCS, Vietnamese, teams because of COVID and visa implications getting into China, and PSG had multiple players impacted and for the first World Championship ever, we as the broadcast team haven’t been able to collaborate with broadcast partners, with producers, with shoutcasters and have not been able to interact and see each other on the ground.”

It hasn’t been an easy year for Henry, as we can see from his little rant. But thanks to China having taken things into their hands and getting ahead of the rest by assertive ‘pandemic management’, we saw the “bubble system” used for kicking off the NBA games save the day again and Shanghai go in for the kill, with players from all over the globe in the same studio, strict pandemic protocols ensured.

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