PlayVS Announces Major Partnership With RIOT Games
The last few years have been a wild ride for PlayVS, a company dedicated to bringing esports to high school across North America. Starting from an incredibly successful fundraising campaign, PlayVS has gone on to establish high school esports programs in 18 states and counting. The company has had a partnership with Riot for the last year, but now the scope of that deal is expanding.
Under the new agreement, PlayVS will become the exclusive provider of high school League of Legends in North America. Any student enrolled in a PlayVS program will receive access to every champion in League of Legends. To the outsider looking in, that may not sound like a big deal. However, it’s crucial to development as a player and something that would cost hundreds of dollars normally.
Matt Birris, the Scholastic Program Lead at Riot Games weighed in on their reasoning for pursuing the partnership. “PlayVS’ unique approach combines the recognition of state-sanctioned sports with an innovative technology platform, providing a great value for student competitors and a sustainable business model to ensure a stable future for high school esports.”
But how big of a deal is it for student athletes? Fortunately, I happen to know someone who literally coached high school League of Legends. Luke Sloan was a coach at Clawson High School for a two years, and he gave his thoughts. “That would have made a huge difference. I think one of the largest hurdles for getting a League club started was how non-beginner friendly League of Legends is. You have to grind games on champions you don’t play to save up for the champions you actually want to play. And all this time learning specific mechanics is wasted.”
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