Core Team of Gambit Gaming Missing LCS London

Riot·Jun 19, 2014·4 votes·6,085 views

My name is Jason “Riotjasonoliver” Yeh and I’m the Head of EU eSports and the Riot Germany office. I’m working with fellow Rioters to bring the excitement of the LCS to as many fans as possible across Europe outside of the Cologne studio. I’m very disappointed to confirm that the core team of Gambit Gaming will not be present at LCS London due to visa issues. Typically, UK visa applications take 4-6 weeks to process from Russia. Gambit Gaming was notified of LCS London near the end of the processing timeline. Despite this tight deadline and in the face of unexpected complications, we worked extensively with the team and did everything in our power to expedite the process of obtaining visas. We also investigated alternative options such as rescheduling or having Gambit play remotely from our Cologne studio. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons (e.g. security and connectivity risks, unfairness to other teams) none of these alternative solutions proved feasible. As a result, Gambit will be playing with 4 substitutes this weekend. We’re truly sorry for this poor experience for Gambit Gaming and all the fans. We really wanted the core of Gambit's roster to be with us in London. We apologize for underestimating the difficulty Gambit Gaming would have in attending the LCS London event. We wish that we had informed the teams sooner about the roadshow so this would not have been an issue. Moving forward, we will prepare all teams for potential roadshow locations as early as possible in order to ensure such issues do not happen again.

192 Comments

GodkillahJun 20, 201455 votes

Un****ing acceptable... either the starters play or you lose ALL credibility with me... if this were any other sport and 80% of the team couldn't be at the game because of visa issues the game would certainly would be postponed as playing the game would be utterly pointless. This was nothing short of bad planning on riots part if they told Gambit at the last possible second.

Either reschedule the games or let them play remotely... anything else and you just made competitive league into a bad joke.

Mr Steal Yo BlueJun 20, 201419 votes

Hate to tell you, but I don't think your stance on their credibility matters much to them.

HeliosantiJun 20, 20141 votes

No one cares if you think they are credible.

Dr KalashJun 20, 20143 votes

I do.

BlooDTraiLEDJun 20, 201438 votes

[deleted]

khagneJun 20, 20148 votes

Also consider that the visa issue just complicated even more with ukraine-russia politial situation, also recently russia said that they will stop sending gas trough ukraine (main russian gas gate to EU)... so, it's not just riot's fault.

HeavenwalkerJun 20, 201413 votes

it IS riot's fault...even riot admits that much...had they informed Gambit in time as they are obliged too, this would not have happened

NeksaJun 20, 20144 votes

WHat Ukraine had with Gambit man omg Flash out man!!!!!!!!!!!!

WolfBookyrJun 20, 201427 votes

Another thing to add is that they seem completely unwilling to reschedule, yet they managed perfectly fine when they mucked up the SK vs Gambit remake. Why the double standards Riot?

KimTheNukeJongUnJun 20, 20142 votes

It's not a double standard. The remake was called because of a bug and a mistake by the referee in not offering the remake. They don't reschedule now because it wouldn't be fair for Fnatic and ROCCAT to have a 3-game week just because of an issue with Gambit while the rest of the teams only have to worry about 2 games.

TheXiguaJun 20, 201410 votes

But that is very similar in that both of these things were due to Riot being at fault. Riot's Ref didn't notify Sk therefore remake. This time Riot essentially created a week where one of their teams were 100% unable to make it and now are just shrugging and saying "Oh well"

Five MagicsJun 20, 201422 votes

"We also investigated alternative options such as rescheduling or having Gambit play remotely from our Cologne studio. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons (e.g. security and connectivity risks, unfairness to other teams) none of these alternative solutions proved feasible. "

Exactly what part of this did you not understand?

PedestrianAJun 20, 201439 votes

They didn't explain why rescheduling is deemed unfair to other teams, when using 4 subs are clearly worse.

KimTheNukeJongUnJun 20, 201410 votes

If they reschedule matches because of a problem with one team, then their opponents would have to prepare for more matches in a week than they should have. For example, if Gambit's matches this week were rescheduled, Fnatic and ROCCAT would be playing 3 games rather than 2 games like the rest of the teams in a later week.

TheXiguaJun 20, 201422 votes

Didn't seem to be a problem when they made them remake their game the next day. They also have a thing called super week, all these teams know how to plan for more than 2 games in a week. All I see here is Riot acknowledging that it is their fault and telling Gambit that they won't do anything about it.

MywhDJV8zuJun 20, 201410 votes

why not just rescheduling Gambits game for next week back in Colonge, then they could play 4 games instead of 2...fnatic and roccat would be playing 3 games, and everyone else 2...no one would mind, competition would be fair...this way is just stupid

finallylupusJun 20, 20145 votes

When Gambit has to play two additional games next week, it means two other teams will also have to play an extra game that week. In other words, Fnatic and Roccat would be getting a 3 game week because of an issue on Gambit's side. Therefore, rescheduling would be unfair for Fnatic and Roccat.

JDoggJun 20, 201410 votes

As opposed to it being unfair for Alliance, SK, Millenium, SHC, and CW for Fnatic and Roccat getting what'll probably be an easy win each, and it being REALLY unfair for gambit who'll need to endure 2 losses because of this?

TmPI WaylonsoJun 20, 20145 votes

I agree with you, especially since Riot said they informed Gambit "within a tight window of the deadline", so in words its more Riots fault for informing them too "late", but yet Gambit is being punished.

PhadafiJun 20, 201428 votes

It is not fair to reschedule a game for Fnatic and Roccat, but is it fair to make Gambit play both games with 4 substitutes even if it is not their fault?

EtoileLionJun 20, 201433 votes

This statement by Riot is truly disgusting! Okay, so you state that you cannot do anything because of unfairness to other teams. However, isn't it unfair towards Gambit gaming that they must play with 4 substitute players. Clearly it is unfair!

So... you would have them make it unfair to multiple teams for the benefit of one team.... Right.

The fans would rather watch their favourite team play instead of watching 4 substitute players play in their stead.

The fans should probably express this to the management of Gambit Gaming, who obviously approved this decision, as they've found substitutes.

Tell us what is the reasoning behind the fact that you cannot reschedule the games?!

Well, that's certainly the first reasonable statement you've made. It may be as simple as sponsorship agreements as to the number of games presented in the London segment; it may be venue issues; it could be any number of things, and it would be nice if Riot elaborated a bit.

Wouldn't Fnatic and Roccat lose their dignity by playing against weaker oponents?

Fnatic and Roccat's teams will have plenty of dignity. They cant help the situation, and will play who they're scheduled to play.

You cannot brush this off and state "moving forward" when your fans, the people who support you are unsatisfied!

Actually they can. They didn't even have to go so far as to put this statement out. They could have one-line slugged a news item onto the frontpage that simply read "Gambit Gaming will be using 4 substitutes this coming week.".

I am asking WHERE IS THE FAIRNESS FOR GAMBIT GAMING in this situation?

Somewhere in the office of Russian visas. Which, believe it or not, are not under Riot's control.

gnoevoetJun 20, 201444 votes

Not a Gambit fan whatsoever, but I think this is absolutely ridiculous of Riot.

There is a difference between possible ping advantage of a few ms (and absence of crowd, I guess), and throwing in four players that aren't even a team. I'd rather give Gambit a slight edge than screwing them over like this despite it not being their fault (AGAIN).

The management of Gambit did not approve this decision at all. They are severely pissed about it. The only reason they found four substitutes is that if they didn't, they would have to not only forfeit two games, but also face penalties for doing so.

Regarding rescheduling, I again think this small disadvantage for teams (by making them play extra games so there's still 8) would be preferable to a huge disadvantage for Gambit. Because, again, this was not in Gambit's control and there is no real reason to screw over them rather than another team.

EtoileLionJun 20, 20149 votes

I'm afraid you'll still have to explain how "small disadvantage for multiple uninvolved teams" is better than "major disadvantage for a single team"...

This was (mostly) not in Gambit's control. Correct. So far as I can tell, the announcement doesnt say Gambit were informed later than other teams; I can only assume the decision to HAVE LCS London was finalized and the teams were informed immediately. So from what I can read in the announcement, which is all the information presented thus far, Gambit are victims of their country's visa policies, not a riot screwjob. If you have verified information to the contrary i'd very much be interested to see it.

Meanie40Jun 20, 201417 votes

You truly think that week 1 of the summer split was the first thought Riot had in holding week 5 in London?

I GUARANTEE Riot had discussions of this since before the end of the spring split.

LCS players are Riot employees; most companies in that situation would have a general NDA contract for "don't release unreleased information" for positions like this, and if they don't, they could have had them sign one and told the 8 teams "look, this may not happen, but make sure you have visas to be able to go to London sometime next split, k?"

The fact that they didn't just shows piss poor planning on Riot's part.

ArketualJun 20, 201431 votes

There's so much bullshit in this I don't even need a item 2043 to see it.

Meanie40Jun 20, 201426 votes

"We have a hard on here at Riot aimed at screwing over Gambit Gaming."

There, a 100000% more truthful statement than the crap you wrote up.

You've known about the political unrest in the Ukraine for three months, just like the rest of us in the world.

You know that processing visas in Russia takes a MINIMUM of 4 weeks.

And you decide to notify Gambit as the season starts that week 5 will be in London, giving them the bare minimum amount of time to try to get visas?

Just like a longstanding bug that you allowed to annul a rightful result last season, Gambit is taking it in the shorts again.

ggwp Rito.

FlyinghipposJun 20, 201421 votes

How is this acceptable, like really? Gambit once again getting f**ked over by Riot trying to make it "fair" for everyone, the best option would be for Riot to reschedule the games.

Riot, get your act together, this is the second time that Gambit have been f**ked over with questionable actions.

Tom HolmesJun 20, 201420 votes

Riot should just of posted, "we forget about gambit ops maybe next time , got to lick SK owners ass".

NeksaJun 20, 20145 votes

Someone said its not fair to Fnatic and Roccat play extra games, last split did they make Gambit to play extra match cause of SK (btw shamefull rematch)

SizaoJun 20, 201418 votes

First of all its way more unfair to put Gambit in a disadvantageous situation because Riot Games failed to inform the Management of Gambit Esports in time. This is not the first time that Riot treats Gambit less favorably than other teams and is simply unprofessional. The only disadvantage other Teams would really suffer from playing these Matches in Week 6 is that their Fans who came to London maybe can't watch the game but thats about it. Gambit fans can see neither of their real Teams Games and have to watch some Substitutes playing who are most likely gonna loose. I also wanna add that Riot should be maybe ask the affected by the rescheduling would be ok with that (which they should be if they show some Sportsmanship). I am once again really disappointed by the unfairness towards one team, and how unprofessional Riot acts in these kind of Situations. I dont see competitive LoL ever become as popular as other Real Sports if the Organisation of special events is that lackluster.

eneffseeteeJun 20, 20143 votes

You obviously did not understand what was stated in the article. They were notified near the end of the timeline. Not as in they were notified late, but that they were given say 5 weeks instead of 6. Gambit had time to get it done. If there was complications, it is not necessarily Riot or Gambits fault. This is the fault of the visa office taking too long. Do not try to throw the company under the bus because they didn't give Gambit enough time. Did you possibly think about the idea that they may not have found out that their ability to use the stadium was set in stone the day they told Gambit? We were told about the event 4 weeks ago. This means that if they notified the community the day that it was set in stone, how would Gambit have known otherwise, and how would Riot have given them 6 weeks if it was not a for sure thing?

TL;DR Riot did what they could quit hating.

Meanie40Jun 20, 20147 votes

If Riot "did what they could" they would have notified Gambit at the end of the spring split of this.

Not only is it a 3+ week processing time, Gambit CAN'T LEAVE RUSSIA while the visas are being processed, as they have to turn in their passports while waiting.

If they were notified at the end of the spring split, they could have spent the offseason in Russia while the visas were being processed.

Bramble BerryJun 20, 201418 votes

Apology or not, this is the second time a huge discourtesy has been done to Gambit and quite a bit of incompetence has been shown. When something happens repeatedly at the organisation level then there's a problem. Riot can put as much money as they want in to the scene, that doesn't mean it's professional. Doesn't matter if they're sorry, they fucked over fans and players with little regard. Need to start stepping it up, and not by getting a bigger stage.

ZarythJun 20, 201417 votes

I rarely ever leave comments on these things but this is seriously shady stuff. Giving 4 weeks notice is completely unacceptable. I'm not even a Gambit fan but I truly feel bad that they are put into this position. This situation reflects poorly not only on Riot but also on the e-sports scene in EU.

DonutSlicerJun 20, 201415 votes

Honestly, whoever stated this isn't fair for Fnatic or Roccat is **! (please WAKE UP!)

The matter is these are professional players. Playing 1 more game isn't going to matter when they literally play for 10-15 hours a day. CLEARLY, stamina is fine.
If they do not play this week, they literally have 2 weeks to prepare for GAMBIT NOW! (tell me why and (how) its a problem to prepare for 3 teams if you literally had 2 weeks to prepare to play against gambit?)
SO you delusional (selfish) humans are thinking its okay for GAMBIT to play 2 games with 4 subs and LOSE?
THESE are professional players and most are probably good friends with Gambit players. I AM positive they would prefer to reschedule then play a team with 4 subs.

Moving on to the atrox situation and remaking the match....

This matter was by far stupid, you DO NOT remake a match that has ended and the result was finalized.
If anything, a apology statement should have been writing for SK and not Gambit.
This turnout literally made Gambit players demoralized for the next couple of weeks. While SK wouldn't have a huge problem because the deciding factors off THAT game wasn't because of the bug on Atrox.

THE HATE RIOT HAS (smh)

DericiousHamJun 20, 201412 votes

Why wouldnt riot reschedule Gambit's games for later in the season, not necessarily next weekend? Why wouldn't you make some makeup games at close of split before playoffs. Do the rules allow for this? This seems to be an extenuating circumstance created by Riot's EU team's lack of communication to teams. They were late to communicate vital information to a team, and as a direct result of their mistake Gambit and its fan-base, not Riot, is suffering. This is akin to punishment of Gambit without provocation, gambit is feeling the repercussions of Riot's EU team's failures. Professional sport? Hardly.

If this was done in another "professional" sports league, there would be outrage. In fact, the schedules, including international exhibition matches, are planned over a year in advance for this exact reason. Riot, if you ever want to be taken seriously, and more importantly if you truly have a desire for esports to be taken seriously, these mistakes need to stop happening. If I were "commissioner" or in a like position in Riot esports I would be coming down hard on whom ever or whatever office is responsible for this. Totally unprofessional and inexcusable.

Meanie40Jun 21, 20142 votes

The pattern of Riot abusing Gambit seems to indicate this may not have been a mistake after all...

cereciaJun 20, 201411 votes

i have pay 3 place for me and my friend and we go for see gambit we need money back !

Mart87Jun 20, 201410 votes

That guy is truly sorry for minimizing their chances of making it to worlds. Basicly Riot creates the problem of not informing people in time. "So we Riot screwed up, but rules say we don't care and can do what ever we want if we screw up... " Yes it be soooo unfair for other teams that they would have to play one match more.. (tbh they could have prepared this week for that match so in which way this is more unfair then making Gambit play 2 weeks 3 games or 1 week 4 games)

So I really do not know how this guy can justify writing this all. All these solutions where possible but there will to provide a reasonable solution because the effort would be to much. I think every decent organisation would agree with just having a little bit more trouble in another week then go this way. I doubt the 2 other teams even have been approached if it is possible to reschedual that match.

So on I wonder why Gambit even makes people show up. Why spending money to send random people to London to lose.

This all is just poor from Riot and showing lack to resolve the problem they created...

BrabisoidJun 20, 20148 votes

Gambit got caught in Riot's rotations... Just sad, seems like everytime there is a problem the solution for riot is to make gambit pay and everyone is happy... You guys should really think about what professional attitude means. LCS is not getting any close to be a "real sport". LCS is just in a galaxy far far away.

shinaritJun 20, 20148 votes

How exactly would it have been unfair to other teams to have a reschedule for a team who can't be there because YOU screwed it up?

WitchHunterQuinnJun 20, 20147 votes

Cannot reschedule my ass. What about when Dignitas and Millennium(I think) went to IEM Brazil? Who cares if FNC and ROC have to play three games. They would have spent a full two weeks preparing for Gambit. Riot failed to give them enough time to acquire the visas, and now they refuse to fix their mistake. cough remake cough

swaerdsmanJun 20, 20147 votes

Riot, this is terrible. You screwed Gambit (again) and are basically saying "Welp! Oops! Too bad". It's more unfair to Gambit to play with 4 subs than for other teams to have matches rescheduled. This is a piss-poor display, and I am honestly ashamed for you as a company and your terrible handling of this situation.

Sincerely, A disappointed fan.

Mandalore652020Jun 20, 20146 votes

Out of the LCS teams gambit is my 2nd favorite. this is unfortunate, that being said life happens, mistakes are made and disappointments come. Keep in mind even though Esports has been around for years the concept of it being more of a sport stretching out over a year and less of random LAN events such as dreamhack is actually relatively new, or at the very least on this scale so mistakes like his are bound to happen before all the kinks are sorted. its just like face-checking. after the 1st time and your team pings you about 300'000 times (seriously thats only 2 pings for each person tuned live on twitch, im not counting Youtube, Anzubu or other languages) your gonna ward and not do it again.

HeavenwalkerJun 20, 201412 votes

Dude WTF are you saying? Both Fnatic and ROCCAT need this victories so while both of them will receive a huge confidence boost, Gambit will propably loose every hope to actually qualify for world championship. Furthermore this statement so poorly expressed, like they do not care about the issue and just want to get done with it. I have to agree with BlooDTreiLED regarding the fact that there is no reasoning behind the "we cannot reschedule the matches"...

Mandalore652020Jun 20, 20142 votes

your right, the grammar poorly presents my point, let me try again. I concede to you this is horrible for Gambit Gaming, more than likely 2 losses for the week which I feel as much as most of you do. Riot made a mistake, they messed up, dropped the ball HOWEVER you want to call it. Even though this is season 4, Esports on this scale is still new (well more here and EU than Korea, and even there I don't think they did more then alot of LAN torments, not so much a constructed sport, I could be wrong about that one though) and LOL is still trying to be #1, the Esport that puts Esports on the map, so they will make mistakes along the way of expansion. most pioneers do. They have apologized, and they don't need to read the comments here to know people are ticked off and they will learn from this.

As far as the "confidence" issue, lets be real. Gambit, Fnatic AND Roccat are all under preforming right now, I think this innconevnace will make everyone more angry at riot than it will crush their dreams of worlds, one bad week wont hurt these teams in the standings much at all right now, the problem is more deeply rooted than that, Theres this line in the sand in EU LCS: ALL,SK (kinda MIL) are on one side above the tide SHC is standing on the line FNC is trying to find that groove that they get at the last minute, GMB and CW are trying to get their rosters working and they all need to find a consistency before the tide comes in or they are gonna get washed out.

HeavenwalkerJun 20, 20144 votes

your point is correct but not on this occasion. Gambit is not a new team and has been around since season 2 as M5 so Riot should already be aware about their VISA issues since they have appeared again in the past...moving to the second part of your point i agree that Gambit are too far away to be in the top 3 teams but still when you are struggling to make your roster work blows like this are important to your psychology. In the same way Fnatic need all the wins they can get before they get their groove back so that they will not fall too much behind in the rankings.

Things like that are not new and since LoL is not the only succesful MOBA out there anymore, these kinds of screwups have began to take their toll as more and more ppl leave this game in order to play and watch something different and better organised.

HeavenwalkerJun 20, 20146 votes

and i am really sorry if i offended you with my 1st reply...that was not at all my intention...it's just that riot screw up a lot of times...i mean the last weak they did not respon to CW and forced them to forfeit a match...which is again totally unfair for a team who is struggling right now

Bl0odWolfJun 20, 20146 votes

I'm very dissapointed in Riot again. Like in the remake of the SK game where the Aatrox bug had nothing to do with the victory, GMB pulls the short straw again. Another 2 undeserved losses due to a mistake on Riot's side. I know that with the way GMB has been performig so far this split they might have lost anyway but they might aswell would have gotten 2 wins, as we saw, they can take games off of top teams (ALL etc.).

Now there's a huge chance they're gonna lose 2 games and their motivation and performance is gonna drop like hell after this, I guarantee it. Just like it happened last split after the SK game. They were doing okay up until that game (they were on the top of the standings) then they lost against SK and just went on a slump. And not one of the casters acknowleged that in any of the next matches when they suddenly lost a shitload of matches in a row and went from 1st place to 5th and almost got relegated.

They have always been my favorite team, since I first started watching competetive LoL and this pains me to see. With the way things are going I don't see them coming back from this. I just hope that when they get relegated, they win and get back in and take the top again.

I hope my predictions are wrong, the subs win and that they bounce back up from this, I really do. I just think it's entirely unfair to them and as we have seen last split they take this kind of treatement pretty hard.

MaricusJun 20, 20146 votes

I am a fan of competitive sports and have watched Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, etc for most of my life. I have just started watching the LCS "eSport" this year and wanted to support this as a new competitive medium and support the players. I just read a news story about a college in Illinois offering a sports scholorship for League.
After what happened last week with the "forfeit" for CW and then this travesty; I have lost faith that this company knows a single thing about fair competition and sports. There is no way an actual professional sport would allow something like this to occur. This completely destroys the entire landscape of the EU LCS for this split. It is essentially giving Roccat and Fnatic 2 games against a non-qualified lesser team. How is this at all fair to the other teams who may now end up behind Fnatic and Roccat in the standings because of this debacle. On top of that the blow to the true Gambit team is tremendous. 2 games in the standings are completely out of their control and they have to sit at home while a group of alternates try and keep them from falling to last place.

Any other professional sport would do everything in their power to ensure the games happen unsullied and with the correct players. Major League baseball regularly has to deal with makeup games and rescheduling, that is just part of the landscape when dealing with a true competitive professional sport.

Riot owes everyone (especially the players on all teams) a lot more than an "our bad, we know better for next time. kthxbye"

This is unacceptable and I will be boycotting the LCS events for the foreseeable future.