ProView returns, three new shows, and more prepared for LCS Summer 2021

Coming off what was a thrilling and narrative-filled MSI 2021, the League of Legends Championship Series Summer 2021 season is about to begin. We went over the LCS Summer's favorites, title challengers, and who can come out of the blue to surprise the crowd with their performance. Every split brings in new opportunities for players to shine, prove their worth, and write their names in the history books.

But it is only restricted to players, as Riot Games and their production standards are raised almost every split to bring the viewers an experience to remember. Upcomer sat down with Riot Games’ Head of Esports for North American and Oceania Chris Greeley, and he revealed tons of plans and exciting projects everyone will enjoy during the LCS Summer 2021 split.

First up is the LCS broadcast talent finally making it back at the studio. California was one of the states which had strict COVID-19 quarantine restrictions, forcing those working on the league to work from home. We saw a trial to bring back everyone to a face-to-face environment during April 2021's Mid-Season Showdown following Spring split, which worked pretty well. That's why for the LCS Summer 2021 split, operations and working environment will return back to normal. You will get to finally see the casters, analysts, and shows you loved from the studio again.

This paves the way to the next announcement; the beloved ProView feature is finally back. Considering Riot's staff will have a proper control and production setup again, the feature everyone wanted back is once again available for you to enjoy. For a brief explanation, ProView allows you to spectate the game from a specific player's POV. This allows you to see everything in-game the way they see it as if you are right there with them.

“We are finalizing plans to get our teams back into the arena for week one. There are still a couple of hurdles to get over. As we’re finalizing the plans, we still need to discuss those with the Players Association and with the teams. We are pretty confident that that the plan is good, and that everyone is going to understand even the things that aren’t awesome in terms of limitations on mobility around the building — that has never been there before for teams. But, we have to limit where people go and when they go there in order to keep people safe and keep distance under these protocols," explained Greeley on going back to normal working conditions.

Those who watch the LCS regularly, all you get before the matches begin is a countdown screen with replays of the previous week's matches. For the LCS Summer 2021, it is going to be different. The studio is introducing three new shows for fans to enjoy, airing on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays before matches begin. 

On Friday, you will get to enjoy Barento “Raz” Mohammed on LanexLane. A 30-minute show where LCS analysts give their best arguments on specific topics regarding the league, the game, and so on. Not only that, the enabled Twitch chat interactions will allow the viewer to take part as well.

As for Saturday, Julian “Pastrytime” Carr will take over to host Replay Files. Pastrytime will take us down a trip in memory lane to rewatch some of the biggest LCS matches to date, and player interviews at the time. Last but not least, analyst and former Cloud9 and 100 Thieves pro player William “Meteos” Hartmann will bring us Next Level every Sunday. This roundtable-style interview show will allow you to hear from coaches, players, analysts, and notable community figures on the latest happenings in the LCS and League of Legends in general.

Finally, those who aren't able to tune in to the streams will now get to enjoy an audio broadcast. As of LCS Summer 2021, Casters Steve “Kangas” Kangas, Kari Keone, Matt “Cubby” Samuelson and Thomas “TJ” James will host LeagueDay.

LCS Summer 2021 kicks off tomorrow at 3PM PDT with Team Liquid taking on TSM in the opening game of the season.

Stay tuned on Esports.gg for the latest League of Legends news and updates.