After a tumultuous season filled with drama, the biggest being the match-fixing scandal, the VCS community is now looking forward to a new season with more positive developments. It is almost certain that significant changes are coming for the Vietnamese LoL scene. However, many might also hope that after a recent “mass cleansing,” audiences will get to watch more exciting matches, and particularly ones that are more professional and clean. At the same time, many new faces are expected to shine and fill the vast void left by familiar names after the major scandal.
Notably, unlike previous years, the VCS organizing committee has recently announced the official prize pool and the lineup of teams that will participate in the upcoming Summer 2024 tournament. Accordingly, the prize money for the champion will be 363 million VND, while the team in seventh place will receive 97 million VND. This will be the first time since separating into its own region (in 2018) that VCS will compete with only 7 teams.
However, according to VCS viewers, the prize money for the tournament is too little. In fact, some viewers who have followed the recent livestreams have pointed out that the prize pool of VCS is not substantial. Some comments even bluntly state: “If the prize money is too little, then we might as well fix matches.” Meanwhile, there are also questions regarding why, as of now, the tournament still does not have an official venue to sell tickets to the audience and thereby increase the prize pool.
In reality, the prize pool for VCS Summer, when converted, falls around 24k USD, which is roughly equivalent to the Spring tournament (also about 605 million VND). However, for those who have followed various livestreams from well-known figures in the Vietnamese LoL scene, it is well-known that the operational costs of a team require much more than this amount. For those who may not know, compared to a region like PCS, the prize money for the top team in the Spring playoffs has already reached 35k USD.
Nevertheless, audiences and teams may have to accept this situation. After the match-fixing scandal, the fact that VCS can continue to operate normally is already a significant effort from all parties involved. Furthermore, if they perform well in upcoming tournaments after the region merges (expected), there is a possibility that Riot will provide better support and VCS could attract more investment in the future.