Former League Of Legends Championship Series (LCS) pro player Doublelift revealed on his Twitch livestream earlier today that he has been suspended from co-streaming LCS matches.

Why?

It’s due to his comments on the LCS’ “dying” viewership numbers that he made earlier this week. Doublelift criticized the LCS for its handling of a showmatch between League Of Legends content creators and the lack of active LCS players participating in the event. Even Liquid mid laner Bjergsen was prevented from competing because they couldn’t pay him enough money.

Doublelift’s comments on this matter were:

“LCS is dying. The viewership is absolutely dying. There’s no denying it. Everyone knows it. Everyone can feel it.”

The fact of the matter is that Doublelift isn’t wrong. Esports as a whole is declining, which isn’t surprising considering that the main aim of video games isn’t for competitive purposes. This esports bubble was meant to pop sooner or later. This is supported by data provided by EsportsCharts, as the LCS is drawing 40,000 less viewers when compared to 2021.

For instance, last weekend’s LCS Ultimate Crown showmatch drew over 69,000 average viewers across its four-hour runtime on Twitch. However, there are millions and millions of League Of Legends players around the world. Where are they? Of course they’re actually playing the game instead of wasting time watching esports.