Riot Games bans esports team TSM from using new name after crypto deal

By Andrew Zucosky Published June 4, 2021

Esports team SoloMid, also known as TSM, signed a $210 million dollar deal today with FTX, a cryptocurrency company, for the right to change the team’s name. With this deal, TSM will now be known as “TSM FTX,” with FTX’s branding on the team’s jerseys and the team’s social media accounts.

However, FTX’s branding will not be displayed on the League of Legends and Valorant teams per Riot Games’ strict rules on cryptocurrency and sponsorships.

Recommended Videos

TSM is currently considered one of the top competitive esports companies in the world, with active teams in the majority of esports scenes such as League of Legends, Fortnite, and Rainbow Six Siege.

The deal between the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency company and TSM ensures that the esports team will be paid $210 million over the course of 10 years in exchange for FTX changing the team’s name to “TSM FTX.” The last time TSM had a similar deal, Qualcomm renamed the team to “TSM Snapdragon” in 2013.

This deal does not change the branding for the TSM teams that are playing in the LCS (League Championship Series) for League of Legends or for competitive Valorant. Riot Games, the developer of these games, has strict rules on what sponsorships esports teams are allowed to take. It does not condone team-specific sponsorships from gambling, cryptocurrency, or alcohol-related companies.

According to Dot eSports, this exclusion was established while the deal was being created. TSM FTX’s branding will be maintained for the teams playing esports games from Riot Games, just outside of Riot Games’ official broadcasts.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Andrew has been playing video games since he was a small boy, and he finally got good at them like a week ago. He has been in…

Topics

Entertainment

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 gets a visual upgrade but stays wonderfully familiar

THPS 3 + 4

The year was 2001, and I was flat on my back in the middle of the street after bailing hard from a failed ollie.

Once I dusted myself off, I decided to try again, but in a safer, more digital aspect. Two decades ago, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 devoured my free time, and now the remake is back and doing the exact same thing. An excellent remake, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 brings two classic titles to a modern audience but adds little to the original experience in a way that leaves the game feeling curiously anachronistic.

Gaming

The best PlayStation launch games, ranked

best ps1 games sony ps1

The most important time in a console's life is its launch. This is when a new piece of hardware needs to prove that it is worth investing in, which always comes down to games. Launch titles are rarely the best games on the system, although some of Nintendo's launch games buck that trend, but at least need to show off what the system can do. PlayStation always had a secondary selling point with its consoles, such as doubling as a CD player or DVD player, so it is interesting to speculate how successful those early consoles would've been judged solely on their games. We now have launch titles from the PS1 all the way up to the PS5 (and soon to be PS6) to look back on with fresh eyes to see just how good those first games were.

Air Combat - PlayStation 1

Gaming

The Switch 2 is the perfect example of why console launches don’t feel special anymore

The Switch 2 being unboxed.

I will never forget the unbearable excitement I felt on that early morning on my 7th birthday. It was 1998, and Pokémon was the biggest thing in the world, especially for an elementary school kid like me. Except that I didn't have a single card or game to my name. In fact, I didn't even have a Game Boy. That, plus Pokémon, was the only thing I asked for that birthday, and I knew I would get it.

I can still remember lying awake half the night, unable to sleep while my imagination ran wild with unrealistic machinations of what the game would be like. I woke up just as early to the sounds of my parents and sister setting up decorations downstairs and bided my time before I could go down. It was a school day, but they could sense my excitement well in advance and agreed to let me open one thing before school.