With an open letter, Riot Games wanted to provide updates on the Mid-Season Invitational 2022, thanking all the players and fans and inviting them to follow the event that will start on May 10th.
“Over the past two years, the global COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on the live event landscape. All this time our goal was to make events safe and fair, putting the safety of fans and pro-players first. Today, the obstacles presented by travel restrictions due to the pandemic are still very present and constantly updated, with direct consequences on our entire ecosystem.
Currently, the LPL (our Chinese regional league) is facing serious problems due to the pandemic and as a result, the league’s MSI representatives will not be able to travel to Busan, Korea. However, after a thorough analysis by our IT, events and competitive operations teams, we are able to allow the qualified LPL team to compete remotely from China. The team will play from their training facility or from the Shanghai LPL Arena, in accordance with local health and safety protocols.
Many factors were considered before making this decision, including security, infrastructure level, locations and of course competitive integrity. Besides the fact that the LPL has the necessary infrastructure to support remote play, pinging from China to Korea is absolutely manageable. To keep the competition fair, we will use a network latency tool to keep a ping as close to 35ms as possible for all teams during the competition. This same tool was used to maintain the ping between China and Korea for the LPL vs LCK Showdown during the 2020 Mid-Season Cup. To ensure the competitive integrity of the competition, all MSI teams will be able to train and scrim playing with this specific ping, as well as having the support and control of the referees throughout the tournament in both Korea and China.
These past two years have been turbulent, but the passion we share for League has been constant. To our fans, teams, pro-players and partners, we want to say our heartfelt thanks for staying with us and for the great support we have never lacked as we sailed in these uncharted waters.. We are extremely happy to be able to welcome the best LoL Esports teams in the world to MSI on May 10th. For information and updates on the event, the Mid-Season Invitational 2022, tickets and more, we invite everyone to visit LoLesports.com and follow us on our social channels as we all count down to MSI 2022 ″.