Esportspedia has been the go-to source for the most comprehensive list of eSports tournaments and players for League of Legends . The director of the website, River Rheingold, announced yesterday that she will be parting ways with Azubu , which owns Esportspedia, and they will get to keep the site. That means all the hard work Rheingold and her team of volunteers put in will be staying with Azubu.
Last night, Rheingold released a statement on reddit which painted Azubu in a pretty negative light. The company originally said they were no longer interested in running Esportspedia and that Rheingold could have the website and look for a new sponsor to host it. After negotiations with a few other companies, she settled with GAMURS, who would take over the site’s expenses and sponsor it.
Rheingold's lawyer is VideoGame Attorney, the same guy who has been helping H3H3 Productions with their ongoing litigations. VGA sent a legal agreement to Azubu that after a full month of saying the “deal would happen” changed their minds and said they wanted a “better deal.” That means Reinhardt will lose control of the website, even though they allegedly told her otherwise. Azubu has yet to release a statement about this.
Members of the League of Legends community, including casters, have been sending their support to Rheingold in the middle of this clown fiesta.
I don't want to lose the @LoLEsportspedia I know :( I use the site all the time for prep. Hope for the best @RheingoldRiver
— Martin Lynge (@RiotDeficio) June 7, 2016
If true, this is a terrible PR move for Azubu. The streaming service is already viewed as inferior to its competition, Twitch.tv, in almost every way. The site hosts fewer streamers and has significantly less viewers. Faker, the best League of Legends player in the world, has a deal with Azubu and can only stream for their site. On his best days, he can get only around 3,000 viewers. When an entrepreneurial player decided to create a Twitch stream solely for spectating Faker, he would average around 10,000 a night.
What Riot needs to do now is pick up Esportspedia and bring it under their brand. The lolesports site is great but is not nearly as comprehensive, only having information on this year’s LCS instead of tournaments of the past. I hope Esportspedia stays around; it’s a staple resource for the LoL community. I wish Rheingold and her team the best of luck for whatever happens next.
