For the past two years, PlayVS (pronounced “play versus”) has been the exclusive platform for high school competitions of “League of Legends.” Anyone can play “League of Legends” free at home, but to compete in officially sanctioned high school leagues, students and schools had to pay PlayVS, which charges $64 per player per season. Across the country, other for-profit and nonprofit esports leagues host school-versus-school competitions in games like “Rocket League” and “Super Smash Bros.” — many at no cost to schools or students. But the exclusive agreement between Riot and PlayVS barred these leagues from hosting interscholastic matches in “League of Legends,” one of the most popular competitive games in the world.
Until now, schools that chose not to use PlayVS could only host two-week-long tournaments for “League of Legends,” in accordance with Riot’s rules. Those competitions also could not use the words “varsity,” “season” or “championship” to describe their events.
Riot’s Wednesday update to the community guidelines for high school competitions in “League of Legends” lifted restrictions on the duration, size and structure of the competitions schools can host. Any organizer can run a competition in “League of Legends” as long as the schools are from the same state or province and the competition “does not claim to crown a national champion,” the company wrote in a statement on the “League of Legends” esports website.
“We’ve determined that the best way to set up high school esports for success is to further open, rather than narrow, avenues for competition,” the statement reads. “Going forward, our priority with high school esports is to create more opportunities for schools and players to decide how, when, and where they want to compete.”
A spokesperson for Riot did not immediately respond to request for comment.
PlayVS did not immediately respond to request for comment regarding Riot’s decision to drop the exclusivity agreement.
Since 2018, PlayVS has been attempting to position itself as the sole provider of interscholastic high school esports. Earlier this year, PlayVS inaccurately stated on its website that it is the “only place to play” esports at the varsity level in the U.S. The PlayVS website has since been updated to remove that claim. In January, PlayVS emailed cease-and-desist letters to nonprofit esports organizations in at least five states, instructing the associations to stop hosting matches for certain game titles, despite not having the authority to do so.
Multiple teachers associated with these nonprofits said they felt PlayVS was attempting to strong-arm school programs into using its platform.
PlayVS markets itself as a “turnkey” solution to esports, handling the scheduling, matchmaking and record-keeping for school administrators who want to provide students with esports programs but aren’t sure where to start. The company currently holds commercial licenses for nine games, including titles like “Overwatch” and “NBA 2K.” Unlike traditional sports, video game publishers own the rights to each esports title and get to decide how and where their games are used.
In 2018, PlayVS started a contract with the streaming network for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to be the network’s platform for esports competitions. Now, PlayVS has contracts with 21 state athletic associations tied to the NFHS, along with a number of groups outside of the federation, according to the company’s website.
In a call with The Post in April, Karissa Niehoff, the chief executive of the NFHS, clarified the status of its partnership with PlayVS, saying the company is not the exclusive platform for esports with its member schools and that high school programs can work with any platform of their choosing. Niehoff said the contract between PlayVS and the NFHS Network “is simply that the network will advocate for PlayVS.”
“We have been made aware of numerous communications that incorrectly identify the partnership,” Niehoff said. “No one is the exclusive esports provide for high schools. No one.”
Heading into next school year, Riot said in its statement the company plans to closely monitor how their updated guidelines affect “League of Legends” competitions at schools across the country.
“This is just the start,” the statement read. “Our long-term goal is to directly support (with third party assistance) official high school state and provincial championships across North America.”
