Faker: eSports legend and South Korea ‘national treasure’

South Korea’s Lee Sang-hyuk, better known as Faker
– Copyright AFP ANTHONY WALLACE

Hieun SHIN

Lee Sang-hyeok wanted only to be a “normal kid”. He was anything but, and is now a multi-millionaire eSports superstar known worldwide simply as Faker.

The 28-year-old has officially been given the title of “national treasure” in his native South Korea, along with the likes of footballer Son Heung-min and K-pop mega-group BTS.

He is said to earn an estimated 10 billion won ($7.2 million) a year and is easily the most recognisable name in professional gaming. 

The bespectacled Lee will hope to add to his fame and fortune by winning a fifth League of Legends (LoL) world title on Saturday in London when his T1 team face China’s Bilibili Gaming.

But for all that, it is not the life Lee originally envisioned for himself.

“I just wanted to go to university like any normal kid and make good money,” he once said.

In 2011, as a high-school student, Lee decided to try the hugely popular multi-player online battle video game League of Legends.

It was to change the course of the teenager’s life.

Within months his talent caught the attention of eSports team SK Telecom (now T1).

Lee has gone on to become the first player to hold every international LoL title and helped gaming segue beyond teenage bedrooms and into the mainstream.

“League of Legends, eSports and Faker, they needed each other in a way,”  Belgian television presenter and gamer Eefje Depoortere said in a documentary.

“There was a platform given by League of Legends, going professional and having all these leagues, and then there was one person who stood up and said, ‘I will be that icon for you’.”

– Global audience –

Lee’s journey hasn’t been without its disappointments. 

After winning the world championship in 2015 and 2016, Lee’s winning streak ended in 2017 at the hands of a rival South Korean team.

Many fans vividly recall the scene of Lee head down and shaking with tears.

“A lot of fans were eagerly waiting and countless people were watching,” he said, reflecting later on the crushing defeat.

“In the beginning I struggled with that pressure, but these days I try to overcome it on my own, regardless of what people might think.”

In 2023 he won the championship on home soil, something he had always wanted to do.

In addition to a global television audience, tens of thousands of fans massed in the capital Seoul.

Among his many accolades, Lee bagged gold at the Asian Games last year, earning him exemption from military service.

Now in his late 20s — making him a comparative veteran in gaming — this year has not been Lee’s best, with his team coming fourth in the South Korean league.

In August videos emerged of a frustrated Lee headbutting a wall several times after his T1 team lost.

– ‘Everyone knows Faker’ –

Lee’s influence has inspired a new generation in South Korea to pursue careers as professional gamers and helped convince parents that it is a serious profession.

In May, a “Faker Temple” — a pop-up installation — was erected in his honour in Seoul.

It attracted thousands of fans who waited hours to see pictures of him and videos of his best plays.

“Lee Sang-hyeok is my religion,” devotee Park Jung-min told AFP. 

“He is the legendary GOAT (greatest of all time).” 

ESports have become a source of national pride for South Korea and the country was at the forefront of the emergence of gaming as a profession.

In recent years the industry has shifted, however, with Chinese teams recruiting top South Korean players and coaches, and defeating the Koreans in big championships.

Joe Marsh, chief executive of T1, said Chinese teams have repeatedly tried to sign up Lee.

“Every time he’s a free agent the offer from China comes in and it’s $20 million a year to come,” Marsh once said.

Despite the staggering offers Lee chose to remain with T1, saying he merely wanted to play in his home country.

There’s a saying in South Korea that sums up Lee’s legend.

“Not everybody knows the game League of Legends,” it goes.

“But everyone knows Faker.”