LCS broadcast crippled by tech issues resulting in hour long delay

Due to an issue with player comms on-stage, the LCS broadcast was delayed by an hour and players were forced to play remotely for the day of February 3, 2023.

Tech issues are sometimes unavoidable when it comes to putting on a live broadcast. Though things have been fairly smooth so far in 2023, the LCS is no stranger to tech issues and delays.

Examples like the hours worth of delays during the EG vs. TSM playoffs match in Summer 2022 are hard to forget, and delays can affect both the players’ patience and fans’ interest in watching.

On Friday, February 3, the entire LCS broadcast had to be set back an hour due to issues with on-stage comms between players. Rather than risk the tech issues, players have been told to play remotely.

LCS delayed and players forced to play remotely

Having fans back in the studio after years worth of remotely play has certainly changed the broadcast. Getting back to in-person arenas and big events has brought League of Legends back on the road outside of just big international events.

However, due to in-studio tech issues, teams have to play from a remote environment for February 3’s games. While fans who came in-person have been given refunds, the broadcast was delayed by an entire hour to get players prepared.

According to Riot’s broadcast crew, issues were identified while setting up player PCs and weren’t able to be fixed before games were meant to begin. This has resulted in significant broadcast delays.

Tweets from people attending in person have reported that the teams that were going to play didn’t even enter the arena, and that they were sent home when the on-site broadcast team realized that the problems wouldn’t be fixed in a timely manner.

That said, it doesn’t seem like there were too many people there in-person.

While LCS viewership hasn’t dipped all that much following the controversial scheduling changes, massive technical problems and delays of this kind paired with an already different schedule has the potential to be confusing for those trying to get used to the new game days.

At the time of writing, matches are underway and haven’t been affected by tech issues thus far other than the initial delay.

Meanwhile, the remaining people on the broadcast team have done their best to make up for elements of the matches that are missing.