The contract for the fourth season of Riot’s League of Legends Championship Series says players may not stream games including Dota 2, Hearthstone, StarCraft and many others.
The final touches are being put on the new season of the League of Legends Championship Series, and that means new contracts for all and sundry. But a copy of the new contract obtained by onGamers has a number of rather heavy restrictions on what players are allowed to play for public consumption.
“The following companies and/or products are not to be advertised during or adjacent to League of Legends content during the term,” the contract states, “the term” being the duration of the contract – presumably the full length of the season. Among the forbidden games are Dota 2 and virtually everything from Blizzard – the Diablo, StarCraft, Warcraft, World of Warcraft and Hearthstone franchises – plus many others including Smite, Rise of Immortals, Heroes of Newerth, World of Tanks and World of Warplanes. On the non-gaming side, gambling websites, narcotics, tobacco, guns and porn are also out.
The body of the contract doesn’t explicitly state that “streaming” is forbidden but the above comes from a section entitled “Sponsorship and Streaming Restricted List,” which strongly suggests that Riot Games views streaming as a form of advertising. OnGamers says “several” team reps it contacted have confirmed that the contract is real, but neither Riot Games nor Smite developer Hi-Rez Studios would comment.
Source: onGamers
