EG reportedly set to leave esports entirely by 2024

Earlier today, Riot made the mammoth announcement that two organizations, Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses, would be departing the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), North America's premier League of Legends tournament franchise. This stark announcement revealed that the LCS would operate with 8 teams, as opposed to the traditional 10, for the 2024 season.

After Riot's announcement, Kevin Hitt of Sports Business Journal reported that the two organizations left for different reasons. Golden Guardians, owned by the Golden State Warriors, who also hold players in Super Smash Bros. Melee and World of Warcraft, are leaving the unprofitable LCS to focus on basketball operations.

Evil Geniuses are desperately attempting to liquidate all of their esports holdings, but have been unsuccessful thus far. Previous reports have revealed the EG attempted to sell their LCS slot to other organizations, but Riot's announcement have quite obviously ended those negotiations. Now, SBJ reports, "Industry insiders tell SBJ that Evil Geniuses could be exiting the esports space entirely before the end of the year."

This news drops just a couple of weeks after Richard Lewis reported that Evil Geniuses was looking to leave Counter-Strike, among other esports titles.