'The unkillable demon king' of esports ends speculation and stays put

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League of Legends pro Faker is considered one of the game's greatest-ever players.

LoL pro Faker.
(Image credit: T1)

The League of Legends megastar Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok has ended several months of speculation over his future by re-signing with the South Korean outfit T1 for three more years. The player is widely regarded as one of the greatest LoL players in history, and recently, reports had suggested that western organisations including Team Liquid were sniffing around.

T1 announced the news on social media, posting an image of the player alongside his rather grand moniker: "the unkillable demon king". He looks too sweet for that but what do I know about mid-laning.

T1 CEO Joe Marsh said: "Honored and grateful Faker has chose to spend the next 3 years at T1! This free agent process was beneficial for both of us and I’m excited for Faker to lead this org for years to come. T1 is home for Faker. Thank you to the entire Lee family for making this moment possible."

Faker's been with T1, formerly SK Telecom T1, since 2013, the same year he won his first LoL Worlds title. Over his career our unkillable friend has won a further two Worlds titles and two MSI titles, and though recent years have been lean on the trophy front T1 continues to reach finals (and Faker continues to perform exceptionally well on the big stage).

You could fairly describe Faker as a veteran player even though, this being the wonderful world of esports, he's only 26. Incredibly, or not depending on your point of view, this makes him six years older than his next-oldest T1 teammates.

Faker was most recently in the news for non-gaming reasons, after he and T1 decided enough was enough when it came to the online abuse directed at the player (and his mother). Together they launched a suit in South Korea against "the John Does that have continuously and repeatedly harassed Lee 'Faker' Sang-hyeok online".

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."