Riot signs Russian deal for League of Legends

Russian internet company Yandex has agreed a long-term deal with US video games developer and esports event organiser Riot Games for rights to its League of Legends series.

Yandex will hold exclusive rights in Russia and the wider CIS region to LoL esports content, which will be streamed via the Yandex.Efir platform.

The Yandex service will also be utilised to host livestreams of events in Russian on Riot’s esports portal.

The Esports Observer website said the partnership will result in a new revenue sharing system for the Continental League (LCL), the leading League of Legends competition for the CIS region. Teams in the LCL will receive a share of advertising revenue and sponsorship deals.