Riot Games Korea and SK Telecom on Thursday forged a strategic alliance to air the final match of League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) 2019 live on the latter’s platform Oksusu.

The LCK Spring Final 2019 is slated for Saturday at Jamsil Arena in Songpa, Seoul. Fans can watch the game on SKT’s Oksusu’s sports channel.

This partnership is not a one-off affair. SKT said it will work as LCK’s official 5G sponsor till end-2020, with exclusive rights to create virtual and augmented reality contents using the intellectual property of “League of Legends.” The contents include virtual fan meetings with pro-players.
 

US-based Riot Games’ first and only creation, “League of Legends” enjoys massive popularity, with monthly active users reaching approximately 100 million globally.

Riot Games Korea has decided to broadcast the games on its own starting this year. It runs its league broadcasts on SBS and Afreeca TV platforms.

Through SKT’s Oksusu, the company said it hopes to reach a wider audience.

Riot Games Korea will supply SKT with multiple sources, which will allow viewers to see live games from a player’s perspective.

Oksusu’s 5G technology, in turn, allows viewers to pinch-zoom the game screen up to four times the original telecast, as well as simultaneously watch from all the 10 players’ perspective.

The three major Korean telecom firms -- SKT, KT and LG Uplus -- took part in the LCK partnership bidding in March.

SKT, which won the bid, said that esports is one of the core contents for 5G services.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)