Overnight, prominent members of the eSports community accused Riot games of pushing to make teams pick between League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth and Dota 2.
SirScoot, manager of Evil Geniuses explained on the Live On Three that it was lobbying by the major teams that convinced Riot to back down, and allow organisations that host competing MOBA teams to enter the forthcoming Season Three tournament.
Riot have denied the accusations, with Riot’s VP of eSports, Brandon Beck saying “to set the record straight, Riot WILL NOT be forcing teams (i.e. CLG, EG) to be exclusive to League of Legends. I’m not sure where this rumor started, but that’s exactly what it is, a rumor.”
I spoke to Team Dignitas’s manager, Odee, about the situation; he’s been repeatedly named as one of the leading team managers to object to the rumoured exclusivity. Team Dignitas runs a successful League of Legends team, and Odee is open in his wish to recruit a top-tier Dota 2 team.
Odee explained that he’s unsure of where the rumours have come from. “No-one from Riot has ever confirmed to me that there would be an exclusive relationship. Riot have said to me that if I want to pick a DOTA 2 team, I can. As far as I’m concerned: what exclusivity.”
We’ve reached out to Riot for comment.