“I am let down by the LEC today,” Indiana ‘Froskurinn’ Black, an LEC caster tweeted shortly afterwards. “There have been many good days to be a member of the LEC team, today is not one of those days,” fellow caster Daniel ‘Drakos’ Drakos tweeted. Other members of the LEC broadcast team, including Andrew ‘Vedius’ Day, Trevor ‘Quickshot’ Henry, Eefje ‘Sjokz’ Depoortere, Aaron ‘Medic’ Chamberlain, Christy ‘Ender’ Frierson and Laure “Bulii” Valée shared similar remarks online that day.

This is disappointing because this is the LEC. It’s my team, my product, my managers, my office.

My family. My home.

This isn’t someone far away in HQ that I don’t know. This is devastating because I know who made these choices and I feel silenced.

— Froskurinn (@Froskurinn) July 29, 2020

Those views were quickly repeated and amplified by LEC viewers on Twitter, Reddit and other social media platforms. Many felt it was egregious for the LEC to tweet about the partnership with a display picture that showed an LGBTQ+ version of its logo. Other esports commentators, including those who work on the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) in North America, echoed the community’s disappointment on Twitter. “My disappointment is immeasurable,” James ‘Dash’ Dash, an LCS caster tweeted. “I adamantly do NOT support this partnership.”

Neom’s development has been controversial. The so-called ‘Mega-City’ was announced by Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, in October 2017. As the Guardian reports, the project requires land that is currently occupied by the Huwaitat tribe. One member, Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, was killed by Saudi security forces in April after explaining in a video that he and other tribe members were facing eviction. Saudi Arabia’s state security confirmed his death, according to the BBC, but alleged that he had shot at the country’s security forces, giving them no choice but to exchange fire.

Saudi Arabia has a long history of human rights abuse.

Saudi Arabia has a long history of human rights abuse, too. Homosexuality is illegal in the country and women’s rights are heavily restricted, for instance. In October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist for the Washington Post and critic of the Saudi government, was murdered inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul. As the BBC reports, Saudia Arabia initially denied any knowledge of the killing, but Shalaan al-Shalaan, the country’s deputy public prosecutor, later said the murder had been ordered by the head of a “negotiations team” sent to bring Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia.

Today, members of the LEC commentary team said they were happy with the reversal. Quickshot tweeted: “I’m happy the decision was reversed, but I’m sad it happened in the first place.” He later added: “Trust has been damaged internally and externally and you’ve seen it and experienced it. It will take time to repair, and I ask that if you trust me, trust that I’m doing what I can internally and externally.” Medic wrote in a separate post: “I woke up to good news but still feel dejected. I’m so sorry to LEC fans that this ever happened. It is not what I stand for.”

Trust has been damaged internally and externally and you’ve seen it and experienced it. It will take time to repair, and I ask that if you trust me, trust that I’m doing what I can internally and externally.

It’s been a tough few days. These are not easy challenges. Lots to do.

— Trevor Henry (@Quickshot) July 30, 2020

The LEC was originally called the EU LCS. It was renamed and rebranded in early 2019, though, to further separate its league and image from the North American LCS. That transition has been a huge success and allowed the LEC’s organisers to strike sponsorship deals with a wealth of household brands including Kia and KitKat. Esports have fared better than traditional sports during the COVID-19 pandemic but are still under pressure to reach profitability. Riot has hinted in the past that it needs to increase revenue in order to make its esports business sustainable and avoid cutting costs. Chris Greeley, the Commissioner of the LCS, told the Washington Post that he expects the North American league to turn a profit next year, however.

Riot Games

Like many esports pros, Bjergsen spent his formative years in the spotlight, and he’s been the target of both incredible praise and rageful harassment, often simultaneously. In real-time as a rising star, he had to manage the pressures of being an international athlete, high-profile streamer and effective teammate. It was often dark and difficult.

“I’ve been around so long that it doesn’t bother me as much, but I did go through a phase where that was really hard for me,” Bjergsen said. “If you take in the good, you also have to take in the bad. Now I’m just a little bit more disconnected from all of it, both the praise and the criticism.”

“I’ve been around so long that it doesn’t bother me as much.”

One tool that’s helped him immensely is therapy (on Friday mornings or otherwise). His current therapist has a background working with military clients — “I think she understands what it’s like being in a team,” Bjergsen said — and she teaches meditation.

“Meditation is a pretty big part, the conversation of performance and flow in general,” he said. “She’s really helpful to me with working in a team and how to work best with my teammates, how to deal with pressure. I can imagine a lot of younger players could learn a lot talking to someone about how to deal with the community perception and criticism from the community.”

It’s not only new players that could benefit from introspection, meditation and therapy, but veterans as well, Bjergsen said.

“I do know a lot of professional players where a big part of them stopping is just the toll that it takes to practice such long hours, feeling like you’re under a microscope all the time from the community,” he said.

A handful of well-known League of Legends pros have retired recently amid mental health concerns, including Korean players Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan and Heo “PawN” Won-seok. Wolf, 23, cited years of depression, adjustment disorder, anxiety, and panic disorder spurred on by the competitive pro-gaming scene. PawN, also 23, was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder in 2018 and eventually found it impossible to continue playing at the highest tier. Both players retired late last year.

“Not long after [2018], the panic attacks became really severe,” Wolf told Inven Global in November. “Fans probably only knew that I was just unhealthy. At the time, not only did I go throw up, I started to have panic attacks when I was unplugging my keyboard, so I went under the desk, and vomited, cried, and trembled like crazy for over 10 minutes. The coaching staff came to get me after I’d calmed down, and that continued for months.”

The Korean League of Legends scene, the LCK, is the most competitive in the world, and it regularly dominates the other regions. This also means it’s arguably the most high-pressure. Korean teams hold five of the nine Worlds titles, though China (LPL) has taken home the trophy for the past two years.