Although nothing grows forever, competitive League of Legends has continued to trend upwards over the past few years.
This year has seen more records broken across the different leagues, especially the LEC -- despite the 'fall' of titans such as Fnatic and G2, in the face of MAD Lions' dominance of the 2021 season.
The exception that proves the rule
However, North America has proved to be the great exception, with the LCS seeing 100 Thieves sweep Team Liquid in a 3-0 finals win.
The short broadcast time and the lack of significant media pull usually seen from the likes of TSM and Cloud9 being involved combined for a rather pitiful peak viewership of 364,328.
This figure is less than half the peak concurrent views that the LEC Summer Split final enjoyed, and one that represents the worst for the competition in more than five years.
It serves to highlight the stagnant nature of a region that, despite its high salaries, is beginning to lag far behind its rivals.
Riot's esports division will have to come up with a new strategy for next year's campaign, although a decent showing from LCS teams at Worlds might sserve to raise spirits on the new continent.
However, the problems run deeper than just temporary results, and the US-based Riot have a job on if they are to revitalise interest in their home tournament.
One of the rumoured options to replace China as host of the League of Legends World Championship, Iceland appears to have got the nod from Riot Games.
