T1 Faces Drama Right Before 2024 Worlds
After securing the final spot for the 2024 Worlds, T1 quickly initiated a series of activities aimed at fans and preparation for the upcoming tournament. Specifically, T1 was the first team to announce the early release of 2024 Worlds skins for fans to pre-order, along with interviews with players discussing their recent challenges and the important tournament ahead.
Notably, the reigning champion of the 2023 Worlds also made a move that can be seen as ‘idolizing’ the players by opening a paid chat service for fans to directly message the players.
However, under pressure from fans, T1 had to cancel this initiative. Allowing fans to interact directly with players created opportunities for detractors or overly enthusiastic fans to attack the players for just a small fee. Nevertheless, in the announcement regarding the cancellation of this service, one detail caught the audience’s attention: T1 has been experiencing DDoS attacks for a long time, and the players have been unable to livestream to earn additional income as they usually do.
T1 also directly pointed out that Riot has not taken any decisive action to resolve the issue, and that launching this chat service was a way for T1 to improve the team’s revenue. Moreover, this was also an attempt for T1 to return to fan interaction activities as before.
T1 has always had to struggle with many issues right from training and preparation
Riot’s revelations also show that T1 is not only facing opponents but also battling against DDoS attacks. Of course, it’s undeniable that T1 players have seen a decline in performance, but even their training has been affected, which is quite unfair to this team. Poor performance has led to public pressure, creating another issue for T1.
With T1 heading to the 2024 Worlds, the DDoS situation may improve as everything they use will be provided by Riot. Fans are certainly hoping that after many difficulties, T1 will have the best conditions for their journey to defend their championship title at the most important tournament.