The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has many people spending more time at home. Not surprisingly, many people have turned to gaming to pass the time. This has put pressure on gaming companies in sometimes unexpected ways, such as longer than usual wait times to get into a League of Legends game.

Mel Cappellino-Garcia, associate program manager at Riot, said on Twitter that this is due to servers in North America running at near maximum capacity; according to Cappellino-Garcia, Riot is working to increase the capacity of its servers, and the company has been working to increase the capacity of its servers. working to increase it, and in the meantime will whitelist all pro accounts and league partners to allow them to bypass the queue and join the game.

While it may seem elitist and unfair, the rationale behind this decision is correct: if you can't get into a game because the servers are too crowded, the next best thing is to watch the play on the stream. If the pros and partners can't get in, that can be quite tricky (let's face it, no one wants to see me playing LoL, for example). Most players are going to struggle with virtual lineups in the near future, so it makes sense to at least ensure they have something to watch while they wait.

Capperino-Garcia said that partners and pro accounts have already been whitelisted in North America, and other regions should be cleared in the next few days. to Riot for more information about plans to increase LoL server capacity. We have contacted them and will update if we hear back.

A summary of esports conventions and other gaming events affected by the coronavirus outbreak can be found here; for more information on the Covid-19 coronavirus, visit the North American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or the World Health Organization.