The Blade of the Champion, Riven's skin was priced at 99 RMB. This meant that for every player that bought this skin, the total prize pool for the League of Legends S1 World Championship would increase by another 50 RMB.
(Players that have already bought tickets to the S1 World Championship will automatically receive this skin.)
Moreover, in the most prominent position on the official website of League of Legends, there was a real-time update of the prize pool for the S1 World Championship.
This news immediately caused a huge commotion amongst the League of Legends community. Everyone was shocked. Was Chen Mo crazy? That much prize money?
There had been many esports tournaments before, both domestic and international, but they had never heard of such a high prize pool. The highest prize pool was basically a million dollars. As for domestic competitions, the champions only had hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the prizes were all over the place.
In the end, Chen Mo raised the total prize pool to seven million US dollars?
Moreover, half of the profits from purchasing the Blade of the Champion, Riven, would go into the prize pool. Given the current popularity of League of Legends in the world, there was no way it would be a small sum. Although the players couldn't estimate the exact figure, it was definitely possible to add a few hundred thousand dollars to the profits.
This was because it wasn't just a limited edition skin, it also came with a limited edition avatar of the S1 World Championship. This was proof of the player's identity as a veteran player and was very memorable.
Many players were amazed at how generous Chen Mo was. There probably wasn't another person in China who would dare to do this!
Indeed, Thunderbolt Entertainment wasn't the most profitable company in China at the moment. There were still veteran companies like Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Entertainment ahead of them.
However, the difference between Thunderbolt Entertainment and these companies was that Chen Mo had the final say here. He could spend the money however he wanted, and no one would object to it.
Big companies like Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Entertainment wouldn't be able to fork out that much money to host a tournament with just a word from Lin Chaoxu or Liu Yuanfeng. These companies were under financial pressure and had to be responsible to all their shareholders. Something that was purely losing money would face a lot of resistance.
Therefore, Chen Mo was the only one in China who dared to do this.
The huge prize pool instantly attracted the attention of a large number of players and became the biggest gimmick before the start of the League of Legends S1 World Championship!
…
A week before the S1 World Championship, a promotional video for the World Championship was released on the homepage of the Chinese and World servers, as well as major video websites.
Due to the lack of time, the video wasn't very flashy. It was just a mix of game cinematics and tournament footage, interspersed with Chen Mo's speech.
The purpose of the video was simple. It was to let players, especially overseas players, feel Chen Mo's determination to promote League of Legends and create a complete esports system.
"League of Legends S1 World Championship is the biggest League tournament to date, and is expected to be the biggest esports tournament of all.
"Professional players from all over the world will gather in Shanghai to fight for the highest prize money in the history of eSports.
"Here, I would like to introduce the Season One World Finals of League of Legends to everyone."
"For this World Finals, we've provided more than 7 million dollars in prize money, and the prize pool is still expanding. If players purchase the Champion's Blade — Ruwen skin, half of the proceeds will go into the prize pool."
"Sixteen top teams will be competing, but only the top teams will be able to lift the trophy and win the huge prize pool.
"Here, we promise 'League of Legends' Summoners all over the world that 'League of Legends' will become the strongest eSports game in the next few years. We can't wait to know how many Summoners will be watching the S1 World Finals with us."
"We want the players and the world to see Thunderbolt Entertainment's determination in promoting esports. That's why we've invested so much into the World Championship.
"The League of Legends World Championship will be different from any esports game you're familiar with. You'll see two of the strongest teams in the world battle it out.
"We'll be in Magic City on the 5th of October!"
The video was translated into many languages, subtitled, and released on the Chinese server, European server, American server, Korean server, as well as other video websites.
The main purpose of the video was to let players both in China and abroad feel the atmosphere of the S1 World Championship.
League of Legends had only been released for half a year. Although it was developing well and spreading quickly, with many clubs setting up League of Legends teams, it wasn't that popular yet.
Therefore, Chen Mo used a simpler method for the S1 World Finals. The teams would be invited, and the broadcast would be done through the League of Legends app.
Some foreign video websites and streaming platforms would also stream it, but they couldn't send it to every single League of Legends player, so it wasn't as convenient as watching it through the app.
The video had also successfully raised the expectations of foreign players for the finals. The S1 World Finals had also become a hot topic among the players of the European server, American server, and Korean server.
"My goodness, League of Legends is offering more than seven million US dollars? That's way more than any other esports game right? "
"Is this China company crazy?"
"Obviously, this Silent guy in the video is the producer and boss of League of Legends. He's very optimistic about the future of the game. But I have to give him some respect for his generosity! "
"That seems to be the case from the video. He wants to make League of Legends the strongest esports game? That's a great goal! "
"I didn't pay attention to this tournament at all, I thought it was just a normal tournament, but this video managed to catch my attention!"
"Indeed, looks like Silent is planning on making it an unprecedented esports game. This guy's ideas are really advanced! It's too bad I can't watch it in person. "
"I don't think I've heard about tickets before?"
"Yeah, it's a shame that the tickets aren't sold overseas. League of Legends is a game that's only been released for half a year after all, there's no way to cover everything. "
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