Amid a back-and-forth between Riot Games co-founder and League of Legends co-creator Marc "Tryndamere" Merrill and Team SoloMid owner Andy "Reginald" Dinh, Merrill has issued a new response to the situation, saying that his initial response on Reddit two days ago was ill-warranted and failed to acknowledge many of the issues discussed by Dinh in a recent interview with theScore.
Merrill recognizes that his initial response, which has received criticism from other team owners, industry leaders, journalists and the League of Legends community, read as a passive-aggressive response to Dinh's concerns. Merrill says he agrees with many of Dinh's recent criticisms, both in the interview with theScore and a follow up response by Dinh on Twitlonger.
"League esports (in its current form) doesn't provide the long-term security and sustainability that we ultimately aspire to for teams and pros," Merrill said in his response. "Team costs are rising faster (and in some cases are higher) than team revenues, and while this may be the short-term reality of growing a young sport (particularly as the value of teams grow), it's not what we believe the long-term state of League esports will be."
This response backtracks from his original statement, in which he criticized Dinh for spending money on other esports outside League of Legends. In his first response, Merrill said, "Maybe [Dinh] should spend some of the millions he has made / makes from League of Legends on paying them instead of investing in other esports where he is losing money."
In his new response, Merrill reveals some new information about Riot Games' business plans, including team-specific items such as revenue sharing for the teams and their professional players. This is a model that Dinh said works well in first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, where teams' logos and players' signatures are sold as stickers to place on guns. That revenue is divided between Counter-Strike's developer, Valve, and the teams, which ultimately trickles down to the players.