CHINA TOPIX

12/22/2024 12:11:34 pm

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Top League of Legends Player's Contract Worth $1 Million

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(Photo : Riot Games) SKT T1 Faker's contract is reportedly worth close to $1 million, showing the heavy investment in the League of Legends pro-scene.

The "League of Legends" pro scene is starting to take shape in both structure and investment. South Korea is unexpectedly one of the quieter regions when it comes to roster swaps, but that might be due to the high valuation the country puts on certain players.

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SKT T1 has the most popular player in Korea right now, Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok. Named the best player at Season 3 Worlds last year and still noted as the best Mid laner in all of "League of Legends," Faker's contract is worth close to $1 million.

The news comes from Sina Games, which revealed offers made by Chinese teams for Faker's contract. One team offered Faker a $490,000 transfer fee, on top of an annual salary of $196,000. Another team offered Faker $294,000 to transfer and a $686,000 two-year contract.

These are big numbers, but not uncommon in the Chinese scene. A recent article published showed Wei "CaoMei" Han-Dong, a retired World Elite Top laner, was making $800,000 per year on a contract with ZhanQi TV, giving tips via a popular streaming service in China.

In the past few months, multiple reports have been published on top players in the South Korean scene, like Samsung White's DanDy, Pawn, Mata, CJ Blaze Flame, KT Arrows KaKAO and others getting offered $200,000 contracts to come over to China to play in pro-leagues.

China has a vibrant League of Legends scene and more importantly, has multiple streaming services competing for views. This has inflated the contracts of potential Korean players, with the team sponsors pushing millions to secure the best talent.

Even though some have looked at the offers, it appears Faker is happy playing for SKT T1 for the next year. The 18-year old already has six-figure sums in his bank account, thanks to winning the Season 3 World Championship and his reported $60,000 annual contract.

The Korean scene is going to change a lot in 2015, with KESPA and Riot Games issuing changes to the format, bringing a new league system instead of the current tournament style championship. SKT will be folder into one team, along with other sister teams in the region. 

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