Canadian cracks quarterfinals at League of Legends World Championships

In this Aug. 29, 2014, file photo, names and faces of gamers are shown as they compete in a round of the League of Legends championship series video game competition at the Penny Arcade Expo, a fan-centric celebration of gaming in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Canadian Eric (Licorice) Ritchie bided his time before sharing his esports plans with his parents, waiting until he had earned a contract to play "League of Legends."

"I didn't tell them much about what I was trying to do until I had kind of like established myself more," he said.

"When I had a contract that I could print off and bring to my parents and say 'This is how much I would be making. I really want to do this,"' he added. "That's when I actually went to them. From that point on they were just nothing but supportive."

Now the 21-year-old from Calgary finds himself in the final eight of the 2018 League of Legends World Championship in South Korea. Ritchie and his Cloud9 team face South Korea's Afreeca Freecs on Sunday in Busan in a best-of-five quarterfinal.

Cloud9 had to survive the play-in and group stages to get to the knockout rounds, which conclude Nov. 3 with the final in Incheon. Teams are playing for the Summoner's Cup and a big chunk of coin.

It's Ritchie's first visit to the worlds, which kicked off Oct. 1 with 24 teams and an initial prize pool of US$2.25 million. Teams also get a cut of sales revenue from tickets and tournament merchandise, raising the stakes.

The total prize pool last year was just over $4.9 million with the winning Samsung Galaxy team from South Korea collecting more than $1.8 million.

"We've kind of built it into one of the biggest things in gaming," said Chris Hopper, head of esports (North America) at League of Legends developer Riot Games. "We think the spectacle that's created is accordant with the mastery of the players and the skills being put on display."

The worlds were first held in 2011 in Jonkoping, Sweden, with subsequent editions in Los Angeles (three times), Seoul, Berlin and Beijing.

In 2017, the world championship final was held in Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium, the centrepiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Hopper says the final drew a crowd in the mid-40,000s with more than 50 million people watching digitally.

The game is played in 14 professional leagues around the globe, with semi-pro or amateur circuits below those.

There are 10 teams in the North American league. The 50 starters in the league averaged more than $330,000 in salary this year before sponsorship or prize money, according to Hopper.

A top-earner in North America could make in the low-seven figures, with players in China and South Korea making even more. In China, some players top up their earnings via their own digital stores.

Riot Games has already held successful events in Toronto and Vancouver.

"The Canadian fans are incredibly passionate. They're super-excited about League," said Hopper.

Ritchie, who says his Licorice nickname has no real back-story, graduated from high school in 2015 and took a year off, deferring acceptance at UBC while working as a dishwasher with an eye to going travelling. He kept playing "League of Legends" on the side.

"The League thing just worked out so I kind of ran with it," he said.

Thanks to his brother, who is four years older, he got to get his hands on new video game consoles as they came out.

"We kind of went through everything," he said. "Since he was older, he got it all right away and then I just kind of played with them."

He started playing "League of Legends" at 15, working his way up the ranking ladder. He joined some amateur teams before, having cracked the top 200 in North America, trying out for Cloud9's developmental Challenger team in 2016.

"They liked what they saw so they signed me as a sub for their Challenger team," he said.

That earned him a small monthly stipend while he played from home.

Ritchie then joined the eUnited Challenger team, playing with it through 2017. Cloud9 acquired his rights for the 2018 season, using him on the main squad in the role of top laner after the departure of Jeong (Impact) Eon-yeong.

The "League of Legends" map is divided into three sections called lanes, which basically run from your base to the enemy base. Ritchie plays the top side of the map, a role that requires versatility.

The Cloud9 players live and train together at a house in Los Angeles.

"The best way I can describe the set-up is like a frat house. Obviously it's a bit nerdier than that," Ritchie said with a laugh. "It's nice to be around your teammates. who are also your friends."

He reckons he trains on the game at least eight hours a day.

There are five active players on a "League of Legends" team. The world championships allow one substitute.

Ritchie's Cloud9 team also includes players from the U.S. and Denmark.

Liyu Sun of Markham, Ont., known as Cody Sun, was with the 100 Thieves team which failed to advance from the group stage at the world championship.