Tencent League of Legends Pro League (
LPL) is the top level
League of Legends league in
China. The first season of the LPL was the 2013 Spring season. The top three finishers of the playoff tournament receive automatic bids to the
League of Legends World Championship. Playoffs are an eight team single elimination with each step a best-of-five series. The total prize pool is ¥2,350,000. In 2014
Riot Games began providing an
English language broadcast. The format is modeled after the
League of Legends Champions Korea format in
South Korea. In September 2015 it was announced that Riot Games was in negotiations with Tencent to take over operations of the league.