Riot unveils new Pacific LoL championship — but one subregion is still missing

Riot Games has revealed further details regarding the future of Asia-Pacific League of Legends, introducing a new competition that sits above the multi-regional leagues we know today — the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP).

The LCP will act as APAC's stepping stone to Riot's LoL international calendar, which balloons to three events next year as part of the esports' competitive restructuring for 2025. The VCS (Vietnam), PCS (Pacific), and LJL (Japan) will feed into the LCP but fans noticed one subregion has been left out of the restructured league altogether — Oceania.

Riot's late Sept. 29 blog post unveiled the LCP and plans for 2025, calling the league a "groundbreaking new chapter" and a "new era for LoL Esports in the Asia-Pacific region." The PCS, VCS, and LJL will henceforth operate as "domestic leagues" not too dissimilar to the current setup of European LoL in that these leagues will feed into the LCP, offering a direct pathway to international competition.

"[The PCS, VCS, and LJL] will continue operations domestically in search of the best teams to compete for a Guest spot through the promotion and relegation tournament," Riot said. For those who top the LCP, spots at the Mid-Season Invitational, Worlds, and Riot's unnamed third global event await. Teams that finish last will face possible relegation at the hands of emerging teams from the subregion leagues.

The news comes fresh off the back of a major win for the Pacific LoL overnight at the Worlds Play-In with top seed PSG Talon making it through to the Swiss stage over 100 Thieves.

However, the announcement was met with mild resentment from Oceanic LoL fans who remain out in the cold after the closure of the League Circuit Oceania (LCO) about a fortnight ago. With no clear path to professional LoL for Aussies and Kiwis yet, what will OCE-based players do?

Fans from Down Under were quick to remark on the lack of mention regarding a pathway for Oceania-based players into the LCP. The LCO shutdown left many concerned about competitive LoL in the region, and today's omission from the LCP announcement has only amplified this worry.

"[I'm] not going to jump to any conclusions before more information is released but I really hope OCE is involved," retired Australian player James "Tally" Shute said on X/Twitter. Others are worried the lack of mention means OCE LoL is truly dead once and for all: "So should everyone in OCE just give up and quit at this point or...?" ION Esports player Samuel "Styx" Blanchard said.

It's not all doom and gloom for the region, however, with PCS product manager Ban "ChisinX" Chee stating the team is in discussion over OCE's position in the Pacific pathway. "We are figuring it out," he said in response to concerned fans of the LCO.

It is not yet known exactly how OCE will be involved in LoL's competitive calendar, but today's announcement did include the possibility the LCP will "open up to regions beyond the current leagues" in the future.

The LCO was a revival of the Riot-run Oceanic Pro League (OPL) which ceased operations in 2020 a year after the league was downsized due to sustainability issues. A pitch from ESL and Guinevere Capital went through in 2021, with the LCO acting as the top-level LoL competition in OCE for the past four years.

The LCO's seemingly inevitable shutdown this year came after the region was stripped of its direct Worlds qualification spot. Combined with an exodus of talent to North America (many of whom have already returned home) and an "evolving landscape and with resource intensive demands that come with operating an esports league," the LCO was deemed no longer viable.

We'll see what Riot has in store for OCE LoL in the months to come before the LCP and the LoL competitive calendar as a whole kick into gear after Worlds 2024.