"We take a lot of inspiration from the fighting game scene,” says TFT’s Global Head after Paris Open

Sheep Esports interviews Michael Sherman at the TFT Paris Open. Riot's Head of TFT discusses the French community, technical improvements, and the unique "TFT-Con" vibe gathering both casual players and hardcore esports fans.

"TFT Opens are truly a beast of their own, and the vibe here is very different"

The last big Riot Games event of the year in Teamfight Tactics, the Paris Open, just ended, and it was a good way to celebrate it, both as a game and as an esports. Behind the scenes, Sheep Esports had the opportunity to interview Michael Sherman—the global head of TFT, also working on 2XKO or Riftbound — during the first day of the event to learn more about the future of the scene.

This is only the first day here at TPO (TFT Paris Open), how do you like the event?

Michael Sherman: “It has been great. This is our biggest event of the year, and it is a complex one! The main stage is doing its own set of programming and shows. We've got things like the Artist Alley and the Riftbound booth… and then we have our 768 players competing at the same time. There are a lot of moving pieces. This is only the start of the event, but creatively, I think this is our best Open. Things are going very well from my perspective right now.

By nature, every event is unique. But by coming to Paris, did you have any specific expectations in mind?

Michael Sherman: A big piece of why we have come to Paris was the French community. Going back to the League of Legends days, we would always say that the French crowd was one of the most exciting and best crowds to be around. We wanted to make it special. We came here in June for a trip, and we spent a bunch of time meeting French teams, trying to better understand the French community. I spent half a day playing at the Vitality Hive, being around people and immersing myself. A lot of that has translated to the production, with much French inspiration in the art decorating the venue. There are also a lot of activations with Kameto (Kamel Kebir), Gotaga (Corentin Houssein), Shaunz (Kévin Ghanbarzadeh), and Solary. They are all coming out in force and they have their own station to co-stream. We wanted to make sure that we were not the only ones producing this event, but that they were producing a part of it as well.

I am trying to fish for cool stories there, did you face any difficulties during the process?

Michael Sherman: We may be early, and I may regret these words… But last year, day 1 at Macau was very challenging. We ran very late and we spent the last year updating our tools and systems. Even if we have expanded the size of our tournament, we improved our system: players are automatically logged in, we can automatically start games, we can spectate over 100 games, we have automatic match results collection…We are sharper, and we made sure things would not take too long and frustrate our players. We wanted to improve the competitive experience.

Speaking of players, do you have any official data?

Michael Sherman: We have over 90 French players competing, which is slightly over 10%. Europe as a whole is the biggest region participating. I think we have over 30 nationalities represented here. I think we have six or seven players from Brazil and it’s very cool to see people coming from all over the world.

Also Read: KC Double61: "I have no reason to stop playing TFT. I like the game, I like performing, I like the grind"

How do you see the importance of esports for TFT?

Michael Sherman: A lot of people think that this would be like a “Worlds” of TFT. But in reality, we throw three Worlds-like events throughout the year, our Tactician’s Crowns. And if you ask most of our competitive players, they would surely say those are the biggest competitive events of the year. TFT Opens are truly a beast of their own, and the vibe here is very different. We like to consider this closer to a “TFT-Con”. The competition is a big part of it, but it’s much more about a community celebration. For us, it talks about the two sides of TFT. A lot of players enjoy the competitive grind; if Ranked mode were disabled, they would not play the game at all. But there are also a lot of players who just love it. They would play after a long night of VALORANT for example. TFT Opens stands for both sides and brings to life all these different elements.

TPO seems a little bit closer to an FGC event than a Riot event… Do you have some inspiration coming from the FGC scene?

Michael Sherman: We take a lot of inspiration from the fighting game scene. I think anyone can come and compete at EVO, but very few are coming with the idea of winning it. Most of them are like, “OK I'm gonna drop 0-2 and it’s gonna be my fun time”. So we wanted to make sure with TPO that people would spend a great weekend, bringing the same energy. It’s great to see people running into each other, meeting in person people that they have met online.

Having a very open tournament where everyone can compete, is this important to you?

Michael Sherman: We are trying to have a well-balanced system. Pro-circuit players have the first chance to buy tickets before anybody else. We want to make sure that this audience can come here, and it helps validate that this tournament is a high-stakes competition. But it’s also awesome to see all kinds of players participate. Last year, we had a K-pop artist or an Olympic silver medalist. This year, we have Gotaga and Kameto engaging in the celebration. We found out too late that a comedian from Australia wanted to participate. But in the end, it’s important to keep a good balance in the mix.

We mentioned the FGC as a source of inspiration. What about big Riot events like Worlds and Champions with their Opening ceremonies?

Michael Sherman: We talked about it, we do it every year… But we are leaning toward the idea “this is not what we are going for”. If we want to celebrate a big competitive moment, it would not be the same for TFT. But it does not mean we are not trying to do something cool for TFT. This year, we launched our first anthem. But it’s much more about putting TFT in Paris rather than highlighting the biggest names of the game.

With TFT Open, Tactician Crowns, and Pro Circuit, are you happy with the state of TFT esports?

Michael Sherman: We are really happy with the introduction of the Pro Circuit this year. A lot of players had the impression of being stuck in the same repetitive grind. But this year, when we talked with our players, they had a more rewarding experience and had new aspirations to grind for. Before, competing within a set would be seen only as qualifiers for Tactician Crowns. Now people want to make it to the Pro Circuit and stay in it. Something we want to continue to look at is how to make competition more accessible for TFT players. It could be through the Opens, more online tournaments. We experimented with a new online platform earlier this year; things did not necessarily go as expected, but we are using that to keep learning.

You announced the next Open will take place in Las Vegas. To pursue the objective to reach more players, can we expect to have more than 1 Open a year?

Michael Sherman: Right now, we plan to keep 1 Open for the last set of the year. The last set is historically the set we can put more effort into. Last year it was “Into the Arcane” and the year before that “Remix Rumble”. We are trying to make sure to pair our Open with the last Set of the year. For the moment, the plan is to keep 1 Open per year, but we will see how things go. The future growth and success of TFT could always open up new opportunities.

Did you have any reason to come back to Las Vegas? Can we expect a 3-year rotation between Vegas, Macau and Paris?

Michael Sherman: We are not necessarily committed to the same rotation. We really love Vegas, and the number 1 participation country every year has been the US. So we know there is always a high demand to have this event in the US. Bringing it back to Vegas seemed pretty natural for us. We’ll continue to think about our rotation strategy after that.

Can we also expect to see 2V2 and 4v4 take a bigger role?

Michael Sherman: We are always experimenting with different modes. We did a 2V2 showcase earlier, Esports World Cup was played in 4V4. Right now, the primary mode is still solo; it’s the one we are investing the most into. But we definitely keep an open mind for the future.

And what about supporting players or teams with more in-game content?

Michael Sherman: This year, with this Open, it was the first time we experimented more with in-game cosmetics. We have new arenas, the French Pengus and Chonccs this year. On the player's side, we have created augments that memorialize moments from past Tactician’s Crowns. We are excited for this level of game-integration and will continue to look for new ways.”

Header Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games