During the transfer window following the 2023 World Championship, TheShy’s departure from Weibo Gaming (WBG) was perhaps the most dramatic transaction in the LPL. There were times when TheShy’s fans criticized WBG for allegedly treating the “Top God” poorly and forcing him to retire. The WBG management later implied that TheShy’s fans were “zombies” as a retort. The situation only calmed down when TheShy himself spoke out to reassure his fans.
Just when it seemed like everything had settled down, Sohu, a site in the LPL region, revealed some notable details about this incident. Specifically, WBG had indeed offered TheShy the LPL salary cap of 12 million CNY per year (approximately 41 billion VND). However, the trouble arose from TheShy’s advertising and livestream contracts with a third party.
Sohu reported that any team wanting to acquire TheShy would need to buy his advertising and livestream contracts as well. Given his immense popularity in the LPL region, TheShy’s contract was valued similarly to the aforementioned salary cap. Moreover, if a team did actually buy TheShy, they would have to accept that he would spend a significant amount of time livestreaming and running advertisements. This would affect the team’s training schedule and could lead to unsatisfactory competition results.
Even if TheShy accepted a salary reduction, no team could afford his massive advertising contract. Clearly, spending the salary of about two top players for just one TheShy is a very risky investment. Therefore, the player once dubbed “Top God” had to announce a temporary retirement during the spring season.
More notably, TheShy’s advertising contract remains in effect until the end of 2024. Therefore, if teams want to acquire this player for the LPL Summer 2024, they will still need to spend a substantial amount of money. This leads to the possibility of “Top God” continuing to remain inactive in the near future. At that point, TheShy may have to retire early since no team would want to take the risk of spending a huge amount to bring in a player who hasn’t competed professionally for a long time.
If this situation indeed occurs, the LPL tournament will surely face negative impacts. It should be noted that the absence of prominent names like TheShy and Uzi has already significantly reduced the viewership of LPL Spring 2024. This viewership may even plummet further in LPL Summer 2024 if TheShy remains inactive.
Fairly speaking, TheShy is also considered a legend in the LPL region, having won the LPL and World Championship. If the once “Top God” has to retire in such a quiet manner, it would truly be a great loss.