T1 bans streams for its League of Legends team, here’s why

Luke Warr Published June 10, 2024

T1 announced the suspension of all League of Legends streams until further notice, and fans are worried about the squad’s future.

League of Legends always had its fair share of technical issues. From Vanguard allegedly bricking machines to data breaches on regional servers, Riot attracted the wrong kind of attention when these incidents made mainstream news. However, one severe issue has hounded a particular esports team, an issue that has only gotten worse. T1, the iconic four-time Worlds champion, is dealing with DDoS attacks against every one of its players. T1 jungler Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun and support Ryu “Keria” Min-seok have both suffered from a series of DDoS attacks while streaming, the sponsor confirmed. Soon enough, every member started to experience problems.

In light of these attacks, T1 announced an important update for its streams.

Why did T1 stop its players from streaming?

T1 has suspended streams for its League of Legnds players to avoid further complications from DDoS attacks.

The official announcement sheds light on the full extent of the DDoS issue for T1. Notably, the announcement reveals the attacks have gone on for nearly six months, with the same persistence. These attacks also disrupted T1 in ways the organization has not fully revealed.

T1 emphasized the importance of its players being able to play solo queue as a core aspect of top-level training. Solo queue lets players learn the meta and practice against the highest-end players in tense situations. The DDoS attacks mean players could not get their training in. The decision to suspend streams will also impact T1’s finances, as many of its players generate income through their streams.

When will T1 start streaming again?

T1 has not given a timeframe on when the streams will return.

The organization decided to hold off on any streams until the DDoS issues are resolved. T1 and Riot Korea previously worked together to protect the organization’s HQ. Although the measures did work in preventing attacks against the players themselves, the DDoS attacks then moved to the T1 players’ teammates, leading to the same results. Consequentially, fans won’t be able to see Faker play alongside his recently-released Hall of Legends bundle.

Once again, T1 implored Riot Games to devise a long-term solution to the DDoS attacks. Although these issues are not unique to T1, the consistency in attacks certainly implies some security failure on Riot’s part, especially after T1 made measures to protect itself. Sadly for fans, they will not get to enjoy their favorite T1 streamers for the foreseeable future.