League of Legends
League of Legends
Players still seeing usernames in League of Legends ranked
Nicholas James
Riot Games introduced a system that hides Summoner’s names during ranked champion select, but players claim that they can still see ranked usernames in League of Legends. For most of League of Legends’ history, seeing the usernames of your teammates in champion select was simply a part of the game. The player’s in-game name would be displayed underneath their champion icon and players were free to check their teammates’ match …
League of Legends
How to play League of Legends in 4K
Nicholas James
League of Legends is a surprisingly versatile game, and learning how to play it in 4K resolution takes just a few minutes. League of Legends can run on a surprising variety of systems, from years-old MacBooks to top-of-the-line PCs. While the game can have its graphical fidelity and system demands brought down to meet low-spec systems, it can also be brought up to top-tier demands. Here’s how to play League …
League of Legends
Froskurinn retires from gaming, expresses disappointment
Nicholas James
Indiana “Froskurinn” Black has announced her retirement from the gaming space while expressing disappointment in her peers’ behavior, so here’s what we know about Froskurinn’s retirement. Froskurinn made her debut and much of her brand commentating League of Legends professional play in both China and later the European professional scene. After departing the League of Legends scene, she worked for G4TV as a host and content creator. She most recently …
League of Legends
How to link your Garena account to a Riot Games account
Nicholas James
If you play League of Legends or Teamfight Tactics in Southeast Asia, you’re likely happy to be swapping to the official Riot Games client, here’s how to link your Garena account to Riot Games. Garena has been plaguing the Southeast Asian League of Legends community for years, engaging in manipulative price gouging and generally misbehaving, according to the community. This was likely because Riot Games had little ability to stop …
League of Legends
Here’s why you can’t see usernames in champion select
Nicholas James
League of Legends is about to get a change that many fans have been asking about for years, and its the reason why you can’t see usernames in champion select. Riot Games has announced that champion select anonymity will be making its way to the League of Legends PBE before making it to the live servers on the subsequent patch. Here’s why Riot is implementing champion select anonymity and why …
League of Legends
The history of Riot Games, from big games to big controversies
Olivia Richman
Riot Games has been celebrated for its popular MOBA League of Legends, as well as its handling of the game’s successful esports scene. The same can be said for tactical shooter VALORANT, the company’s first entry into the genre. But Riot Games has also been through its fair share of controversies, including recent sexism allegations. Here is everything you need to know about Riot Games’ history, games, and drama throughout …
League of Legends
How to delete a Riot account for League of Legends and Valorant
William Davis
Saying goodbye to your Valorant or League of Legends account requires just a few clicks on the Riot website. To deleted a Riot account for League of Legends, Valorant, or any other Riot game, head to Riot’s support page on the official website. From there, navigate to the section on deleting an account. Log into your account and then fill out the form while double-checking that the information is correct. …
League of Legends
Here’s what the EDward Gaming Worlds 2021 skins look like
Nicholas James
The EDG Worlds skins celebrating the victors of 2021’s League of Legends World Championship appear to have been leaked. EDward Gaming was the upset champion of last year’s World Championship after a stunning showing against defending champions Damwon KIA. Splash art has begun circulating among Chinese LoL esports personalities what appears to be most of the splash art for the team. The splash art matches champions chosen by the players. …
How to get unlimited free Riot Points for LoL with Microsoft
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends has announced a way to earn unlimited Riot Points with Microsoft Rewards. League of Legends has been expanding ways for fans to obtain more cosmetic and exclusive rewards without having to pull out their wallets. Some options, like in-game chests and capsules, can be collected by just playing the game. Others, like Twitch’s Prime Gaming rewards, offer free rewards with a third-party subscription or service. This latest …
Who is Doublelift? North America’s most famous ADC
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Peng “Doublelift” Yilang is one of the icons of North American League of Legends. But who is the veteran League of Legends pro and how did he get so popular? Doublelift is a retired professional League of Legends player who competed in the LCS, short for the North American LoL league. He was one of the earliest professional players in the scene, playing for years as one of the best …
How tall are Arcane characters? Answers revealed by Riot
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Fans of the animated League of Legends show have occupied themselves guessing the exact heights of the cast, so how tall are Arcane characters? Arcane’s depiction of its League of Legends-based cast shook up some preconceptions members of the fanbase had about the characters. A member of Riot Games has revealed the heights of many of the main cast, here’s how tall various Arcane characters are. Jayce and Caitlyn are …
Who is Sjokz, the most famous host in pro League of Legends?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
She’s one of the most recognizable and iconic esports hosts, but who really is Sjokz? Eefje “Sjokz” Deeportere is a Belgian host and presenter who has specialized in esports broadcasts. She is best known for her regular and long-time appearances in Europe’s pro League of Legends scene, from its early days of the EU LCS to the modern LEC. Sjokz began her career as a freelance journalist producing esports content …
Who is IWillDominate, the controversial League streamer?
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
League of Legends streamer Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera is well known on Twitch thanks to his former career as a pro League of Legends player for Team Liquid. Ever since then, IWillDominate has been known for his impressive in-game skills and his outspoken nature when chatting with his fans. But who is IWillDominate, really? While IWillDominate has become a top League of Legends content creator over the years, some viewers and …
Who is Thebausffs, the LoL player who found a new way to use Sion
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Who is Thebausffs, the European streamer and League of Legends personality? Simon “Thebausffs” Hofverberg is a Swedish League of Legends Challenger player, streamer, and personality. Thebausffs is best known for his full attack damage Sion play, and his liberal use of Sion’s passive. Here is everything you need to know about Thebausffs Twitch history. Thebausffs made his way onto the scene as a high ELO player who would be signed …
Who owns League of Legends and Riot Games? We break it down
Nicholas James
League of Legends
With recent discussion of Activision-Blizzard being acquired by Microsoft, some fans are left wondering who exactly owns popular MOBA League of Legends. Riot Games, the League of Legends developer and publisher, is 100% owned by Tencent, a Chinese technology and entertainment conglomerate of colossal size. However, recent developments have made it possible for Tencent to begin selling back its ownership shares to Riot Games employees, opening the possibility for a …
Here’s how to get 3-star 5-cost units in Teamfight Tactics
Nicholas James
League of Legends
In Gadgets and Gizmos, the latest Teamfight Tactics set, 3-star 5-cost units are incredibly powerful and can win games on their own against entire nine-unit teams. How quickly can a player theoretically assemble a 3-star 5-cost piece, and what’s are some of the fastest examples of these game-ending carries? Thanks to the new set, it’s possible to assemble the most powerful units in the game faster than ever. Getting one …
How the Crystal Rose Festival works in Wild Rift
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Wedding bells are ringing and there’s love in the air as the Crystal Rose Festival arrives in Wild Rift as a part of patch 2.6. Players will be able to claim rewards and bonuses for playing during the festival, including poses for Crystal Rose skins. Here’s a breakdown of the rewards and event system. The Crystal Rose Festival is an event centered around the latest skins being added to Wild …
Why is Caedrel no longer casting in the LEC?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Marc “Caedrel” Lamont has announced that despite previously saying he would continue casting in the LEC in 2022, it doesn’t appear to be the case any longer. Caedrel has now implied that he wouldn’t be returning to the LEC broadcast in 2022. Following the conclusion of the 2021 World Championship, rumors began to circulate around a new roster being built by Vitality in the LEC. One of the rumors that …
Ex-SKT T1 champion Bang announces retirement from LoL esports
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, one of the most decorated players in League of Legends esports, has announced his retirement. With two World Championships, two Mid Season Invitational titles, and four LCK playoff wins, few players will ever be able to compare to Bang. The veteran marksman player was a crucial part of T1’s resurgence on the international stage and spent time in North America in 2020 before returning to Korea in …
Riot reveals Worlds 2021 viewership, and it smashed all records
Tokoni Uti
League of Legends
Worlds 2021 was already known to be the biggest event in esports history, but it wasn’t clear just how much bigger it was than anything else. Riot Games has announced that the 2021 World Championship final reached more than 73 million peak concurrent viewers, an increase of almost 30 million from the previous year. The exact peak reached 73,860,742 viewers, up from 46,067,896 in 2020, while the average minute audience …
League of Legends
is among the most popular widely-played video games in the world. It has been a consistent trendsetter in the gaming industry, whether as a model for other free-to-play titles looking to monetize their players or as a guiding light for how professional esports can be both successful and sustainable.
It hasn’t always been so though. League of Legends was released in 2009 as an uncertain new project, a game with large aspirations but little proven. In the years since, it has developed into the dominant title that it is today, and one of the biggest games on the planet.
League of Legends drives success of MOBA genre
League of Legends stands out in part because it may arguably be the very first original game released to truly fit into what we now understand to be the increasingly
popular MOBA genre. Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas are a very particular type of game genre that carry out competition between two opposing teams of players on a map. These games test a mix of competition, tactics, and quick reactions, a potent combination that has proven equal parts popular and durable over the years.
While League of Legends was certainly among the first full releases to focus on the genre and its new ideas, it wasn’t actually the origin point for any of it. That distinction belongs to
Blizzard release WarCraft 3,
and more specifically a modified game mode titled
Defense of the Ancients.
WarCraft 3 was a real-time strategy game that featured prominent hero units who could gain in power as they accrued experience points to level up their abilities, and gold to purchase powerful items. Defense of the Ancients was a
user-made game mode
which emphasized these heroes by giving each player control over one such character and teaming them up against an opposing squad of players. It was a dynamite success, inspiring myriad clones and, eventually, an entire genre of games.
But while League of Legends wasn’t the first to bring about these concepts, it was certainly
effective in executing on them. Early developers at publisher Riot Games had a clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish with the creation of League of Legends, and it would be hard to argue against their success given the runaway popularity achieved by their iteration on the MOBA formula.
LoL incorporates esports sustainably
Just as impressive as the long-term success of League of Legends as a game is the continued success of the title’s esports scene. While esports has known multiple peaks and valleys over the years, Riot Games has consistently managed to maintain the prominence of LoL esports. This has been accomplished through an emphasis on
regular regional play
and
sustainability.
Most esports and competitive games at the time used a circuits system, scattering major tournaments for the best teams across the year. Instead, Riot divided the world into separate playing regions. Each region has its own
competitive league
in which the best professional teams play weekly. The best teams in each league are then brought together for an
annual World Championship event
at the end of the competitive year. This allowed for domestic fan followings to develop across such regions as
Korea,
China,
Europe, and
North
and
South America. Fans would closely follow the teams in their region, and from that familiarity would feel invested in cheering them on when they clashed with teams from other regions at the game’s biggest international event.
This basic blueprint has continued to prove successful for Riot Games over the years, though it has expanded and been modified with time. In response to the success of the World Championship, Riot introduced a second international tournament in 2015, the prestigious
Mid-Season Invitational. In 2025,
First Stand
was added to bring LoL esports to three international events per year. Once again the scene was enhanced and this indirectly expanded the opportunities for
League of Legends esports betting. In the meantime, the regional leagues have spread out to include
more regions and lower levels, solidifying their identity.
The basic formula remains the same, however.
Encourage fan support on a domestic level, and then carry that support and interest over to
the global stage. It’s a formula that continues to power League of Legends esports, and looks set to enable it for many years yet to come.
At Win.gg, our coverage of LoL esports spans from the broader competitive updates and their impact on the scene to in-depth high-profile match previews with team analysis, head-to-head analysis,
LoL betting odds
sense-makers and predictions. All of these based on the insights of our experienced esports journalists.
