Riot Games addresses the many issues of 'League of Legends' esports

League of Legends developer Riot Games published an open letter discussing financial changes coming to its professional competitive scene by introducing revenue sharing with teams and increasing prize pools.

Jarred "Bradmore" Kennedy and Whalen "Magus" Rozelle, directors of esports at Riot Games, listed a handful of changes coming to League esports on Thursday, including allocating in-game item revenue to bolster prize pools and introduce revenue sharing for team-branded items.

Starting at Worlds 2016 in October, 25 percent of revenue from each year's championship skin and ward will go straight to that year's Worlds prize pool, while 25 percent of revenue from each year's challenger skin will go to the Mid-Season Invitational. To put it in perspective: If Riot did this for Worlds 2015, the $2.13 million prize pool would have more than doubled.

To bring some more money for teams, Riot is going to start sharing revenues of in-game items that are inspired by pro teams, including 25 percent for all team championship skins going to players, teams and leagues. Teams will also have new minimum revenue amounts based on their region, which will be set aside for them by their leagues. The only specific number Riot gave was for EU LCS teams getting a minimum €100,000 with 50 percent going to players on top of salaries.

None of this currently exists for professional League of Legends teams or players.

Riot's changes are part of an effort to help stabilize the professional League scene by giving teams more money so they can avoid cutting pro salaries and support, the letter said.

The changes come after recent public complaints from players and teams, including Team SoloMid's owner Andy Dinh saying fielding a League team isn't as profitable as fielding teams in other esports. Dinh got into a public back-and-forth with Riot co-founder Marc Merrill, unearthing a lot of negativity around the pro League scene.

Along with Riot's discussion of revenues in its open letter, the developer talked about stabilizing its pro leagues with long-term partnerships, although details around that are not specific.