New Era for League of Legends: Southeast Asian Circuit Emerges
The 2025 League of Legends competitive landscape has undergone significant restructuring with the introduction of two regional circuits. Alongside the League of the Americas (LTA), Riot Games established the LoL Championship Pacific (LCP), which integrates Vietnam’s VCS with the PCS (representing Taiwan, Japan, and Oceania). Early competitions have already demonstrated strong viewer engagement when teams from Vietnam face those from the Republic of China.
Southeast Asia’s regional integration began gradually, with Oceania’s top LCO teams joining PCS playoffs in 2023, followed by Japan’s inclusion in 2024. The Japanese team Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS quickly established themselves as worthy competitors, twice finishing as runners-up in playoff tournaments.
Vietnam’s addition to this unified structure comes at an opportune moment. The region’s viewership has been on an upward trajectory since the late 2010s, interrupted only by pandemic restrictions that prevented international participation. By 2024, Vietnam’s VCS had achieved unprecedented viewership numbers, making it a valuable addition to the broader Southeast Asian competitive ecosystem.
Unlike the LTA’s approach of holding region-wide tournaments only in the first and third season splits, the LCP maintains a consistent unified format year-round. While experts initially expected the main competition to be between established PCS teams and Fukuoka HAWKS, Vietnamese organizations—particularly Vikings Esports—made an impressive showing. Vikings came tantalizingly close to reaching the grand finals through both upper and lower brackets.
Ultimately, CTBC Flying Oyster claimed victory in an all-Taiwanese final, earning the right to represent the LCP at the upcoming First Stand 2025 international tournament.
Viewership Analysis
As predicted, Vietnam provided the most substantial boost to viewership figures. The most popular Vietnamese team attracted 24% more average viewers than the leading team from any other participating country.
The tournament’s viewership peaked during the upper bracket final between Vikings and eventual champions CTBC Flying Oyster. Having already defeated Fukuoka HAWKS and TALON, Vikings entered this match with considerable momentum. This showdown reached over 261,000 concurrent viewers—surpassing the second most-watched match by more than 30,000 viewers.
The grand finals, however, failed to maintain this momentum. Featuring two dominant teams from the previous PCS season but no Vietnamese representation, viewership dropped significantly. The championship match drew only 110,000 concurrent viewers, representing a 58% decrease from the tournament’s peak audience.
Overall, the LCP maintained respectable viewership with an average of 86,700 concurrent viewers every five minutes—slightly below LTA North’s figures. This places the LCP behind the LTA in overall engagement, a pattern that aligns with expectations given that Brazilian fans typically demonstrate stronger support during domestic league matches than their Vietnamese counterparts.
The LCP season will resume in April, while CTBC Flying Oyster will represent the region at First Stand, facing Hanwha Life Esports, Team Liquid, and the champions from LPL and LEC. First Stand competition begins March 10.