Melanie “meL” Capone, a professional player competing in the Game Changers scene, has publicly criticized Riot Games for their perceived lack of promotional efforts during VCT Game Changers this season.

Mel’s criticism came to light when she pointed out that the media coverage for the ongoing Game Changers event, Stage 2, was not on par with previous instances of the tournament. Riot had previously gone all out with promotional activities for the Game Changers event, from creating trailers and streaming most matches to conducting special interviews with the players. This time around, however, Mel felt that the promotional efforts were lacking.

V1 meL (@melanji) wrote:

The promotion & media of GC this year has been lacking compared to before. I was fortunate to come up thru gc at a time when the promotion of the events rly helped me to gain a foothold in the scene. I feel like a lot of the up and coming players now deserve that same opportunity.

I dont want to come across as ungrateful, but i see how hard all of these players are working + how competitive this GC was and really wish for them the same opportunities and support that i received. I’m not asking for Riot to fly people out and shoot high production trailers every GC like they did last year, but not even having press conferences is wild to me. there just hasn’t been as much hype generated from promos this year :/

While it’s understandable that Riot cannot always exceed expectations for each event, Mel expressed disappointment over the absence of post-match press conferences, which she found underwhelming.

This “incident” highlights the importance of media coverage in esports. It’s not just about attracting viewers, but also about helping players and new talent grow faster and earn the opportunities they deserve.

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