Please forgive my total ignorance on this subject matter but I felt I had to write a news article on it simply because the whole scenario, as I understand it, is insane. According to PCGamer there’s a new ‘controversy’ surrounding League Of Legends. As someone who doesn’t play the game, it seems every week someones knickers are in a twist over someone or something to do with it. This time, there’s a big hoo-ha regarding streaming and Twitch rights and licensing and spectate streams for famous players. It’s all very confusing and unless you’re part of this insular community, it’s probably going to go over your head. I’ll try to help.

As far as my simple and medicated mind can make out (norovirus can do that to you) there’s a Twitch stream that goes live every time a famous League Of Legend player, known as Faker, streams a match. Don’t ask me why there’s a stream that does this, but there is. It seems that this spectator stream has annoyed “Faker” and his exclusive streaming service, Azubu.tv. It has annoyed Azubu.tv so much that they have sent a  DMCA (The Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice) to the Twitch stream owner, StarLordLucian, asking him to stop mirroring Faker’s stream. Are you still with me?

Where things get even more rediculous is the fact that Azubu.tv don’t own the rights to the content Faker is streaming. After all, they don’t make League Of Legends: Riot Games do. Their terms of service state:

We’ll start with our golden rule – you can use League of Legends IP as the basis for a fan project that you’re giving away for free or that’s only generating ad revenue ... as long as you comply with the guidelines outlined below for using our IP. As a matter of fact, as long as you comply with our Guidelines, we think it’s great if you create awesome, free and original content for League of Legends fans."

Simply put, StarLordLucian is doing nothing wrong and Azubu.tv don’t have a leg to stand on unless Riot Games step in and change their terms of service. Unsurprisingly, some of the LoL community aren’t happy with Lucian and Faker’s team aren’t either. They issued this statement:

"First of all, SKT and other pro eSports teams have started streaming business last year to help ensure stable environment for players to play professionally. Not only has the streaming deal expressly helped with players' with their professional activities, it also has been a good medium through which a pro gamer's value is recognized.

"Unfortunately, some of the fans have been re-broadcasting Faker's (and other SKT T1 players') games through the spectator mode, and this has negatively affected players' streaming business. Faker, a member of the SKT T1, also expressed discomfort over the current situation where his summoner name and videos of his games are being broadcasted with no consent.

"SKT T1 team and its players truly appreciate the fans' fantastic support and interest. However, we would like to politely request the re-broadcasting of our players' games without our consent to be stopped."

All this nonsense boils down to is the fact that Azubu.tv is getting pissy at the fact Twitch and Lucians stream is obtaining viewers that could potentially be watching Faker on their platform. That’s fair enough but to spout nonsense such as “Faker expressed discomfort over the current situation” is media garbage. Having watched some of his streams today (over on Azubu.tv - go me!) I’d rather poke my eyes out than watch a miserable looking teenager stare motionless into a camera while listening to terrible music.

Honestly, eSports is crazy.


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Last Updated: Mar 15, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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