In response to a comment made by Riot Games' director of esports, Whalen Rozelle, HTC posted a statement Thursday on the ongoing situation regarding revenue opportunities in League of Legends.
HTC, a non-endemic sponsor in the esports space, said, "With less avenues for advertisement in League of Legends ... it is becoming difficult to justify our investments into the scene."
This was prompted by a comment Rozelle made when asked about the way Riot Games handled a recent HTC-produced video with Team SoloMid. The team was filmed using the HTC Vive, the phone maker's virtual reality system, to play a game created by Survios called "Raw Data."
When asked why Riot Games was opposed to the video, Rozelle responded by stating that the video was "a tactic advertisement for another game" and that the "LCS isn't a platform for other game companies to advertise on." Rozelle added that "letting quasi competitors advertise on the league doesn't make any sense".
HTC stated in its response that "it was never our intention to advertise anything but the HTC Vive" and that Survios, the creator of the game, had no financial connection to the video. The statement went on to say that the game used to showcase the HTC Vive was selected by TSM management and Survios did not approach HTC about getting the video made.
The statement raises questions about the options sponsors have to advertise, along with the desire to see "clear and reasonable guidelines on how sponsors can market in the space and more marketing opportunities open up with our LCS teams." HTC currently sponsors the aforementioned Team SoloMid, along with Cloud9, Team Liquid and J Team.