T1 DDoS issues remain unresolved, sparking community outrage

The new year has just begun, and League of Legends (LoL) fans are eagerly anticipating the exciting changes 2025 has in store. Among these are the debut of teams' new rosters in regional leagues and the new First Stand 2025 tournament, which introduces the Fearless Draft format — a first in LoL esports history. However, not everything is new, as an old issue continues to haunt the community: the unresolved Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks targeting T1.

On January 6, 2025, T1 addressed the matter on X, announcing the postponement of players' streaming activities until further notice. Despite years of attempted countermeasures, a long-term solution to the problem has yet to be found.

Following their victory at Worlds 2024, T1 players delighted fans by streaming a variety of games — LoL, Teamfight Tactics (TFT), and casual titles like Chained Together, Party Animals, LOCKDOWN Protocol, Raft, and Platform 8 — at least only until recently, as it's currently not possible for them to stream until the issue the conditions are stabilized.

The first major DDoS incident could be traced back to February 25, 2024 during the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Group Stage match between DRX and Dplus KIA. The attacks caused eight interruptions, turning a best-of-three (Bo3) series into a grueling seven-hour ordeal.

Just days later, on Feb. 28, the attacks disrupted another LCK match between T1 and FearX. After numerous interruptions during the first game, the LCK decided to play the second game in a recorded, closed-door setting, offering ticket refunds to affected fans.

LCK Secretary General Lee Jung-hoon issued a formal apology on March 4, 2024, describing the attacks as criminal acts and confirming that the organization had reported the incidents to authorities. He also stated that Riot Games, alongside global teams and security experts, was working on countermeasures.

Despite these efforts, the DDoS attacks persisted. On March 21, 2024, T1 General Manager Jeong “Becker” Hoi-yoon confirmed that the attacks were targeting players' personal streams and practice sessions. After two months of countermeasures, he stated on June 3, 2024 that the players are ready to resume their streams after temporarily suspending them since April. However, the DDoS attacks occurred after less than a week, forcing them to again suspend it indefinitely starting on June 8, 2024.

The ongoing DDoS attacks have taken a significant toll on T1, both mentally and financially. According to Becker's previous statement March 21, 2024, the disruptions have affected players' mental well-being and hindered their practice routines.

For professional athletes in Korea, losing access to Solo Queue (SoloQ) is far more than a minor inconvenience. Korean SoloQ, known as one of the most competitive LoL servers, plays a crucial role in helping players stay sharp, adapt to new meta, and maintain their competitive edge at the highest level.

Additionally, the inability to stream has created further challenges for T1. Streaming not only connects players with their fans but also fulfills critical obligations to sponsors and streaming partners. The loss of revenue from platform salaries and fan donations has added to the financial strain, further underscoring the severity of the situation.

The nearly year-long DDoS issue remains unresolved, leaving T1 and its players in a challenging position. As the problem lies beyond the control of the team or its ownership group, T1 continues to call on Riot Korea and Riot Games to implement a lasting solution — something that has “regrettably not yet occurred,” according to their previous statement on June 6, 2024.

T1 has been working closely with Riot Korea to introduce measures aimed at preventing DDoS attacks targeting their players. Unfortunately, these measures inadvertently shifted the attacks to other players participating alongside T1 in SoloQ, further disrupting the team’s practice environment.

Riot Games and LCK have not responded to T1's recent announcement, however, Riot Meddler, head of League Studio, previously addressed on June 10, 2024, how they have continued deploying every resource to investigate causes and find solutions while working closely with T1 to create a safe playing and streaming environment.

The announcement by T1 has since been flooded by angry fans, demanding Riot Games do something about the persistent issue, especially regarding the unfair practice opportunities experienced by T1 before the LCK Cup 2025. They mention how the game only cares about Faker and T1 when it comes to money.

Fans are sympathetic to T1, sarcastically saying that they might as well just stop streaming LoL and start streaming competitor games. However, some also try to share constructive solutions, including implementing a one to two-minute delay to the stream, or only showing the face cam and keyboard ASMR without showing too much information on the screen to avoid the attacker getting visible information.

Stay tuned on esports.gg to get the latest updates on the T1 DDoS attack story.