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Team Liquid was the most viewed esports organization of 2019 League of Legends Team Liquid was the most viewed esports organization of 2019 By Olivia Richman TF Blade reaches Masters rank on Korean servers League of Legends TF Blade reaches Masters rank on Korean servers By Olivia Richman LPL to return for 2020 Spring Split, will be played online League of Legends LPL to return for 2020 Spring Split, will be played online By William Davis
Fans worried Riot’s new LoL anti-cheat will let company spy on them League of Legends
Fans worried Riot’s new LoL anti-cheat will let company spy on them Syed Mujtaba Naqvi With Riot Games set to rapidly expand its gaming catalog, the company is creating its own anti-cheat program. The League of Legends publisher is looking to push a new kernel driver to ensure fairness across its titles, the developer announced earlier this month. The implementation of this driver to the games will drastically help in detecting cheats, but some players are worried about the level of access Riot will have …
Captain Flowers to miss LCS broadcast after suspension from Riot League of Legends
Captain Flowers to miss LCS broadcast after suspension from Riot Olivia Richman League of Legends fans won’t see Clayton “Captain Flowers” Raines on the LCS broadcast this weekend.  Riot is punishing the popular caster for over-sleeping and missing call time for this week’s episode of “This or That.”  “Today I streamed til way too early in the morning and didn’t wake up for my call time for This or That. This week’s episode doesn’t include me (clearly) and I won’t be on …
Riot says smurfing in League of Legends “ruins the game,” to be fixed League of Legends
Riot says smurfing in League of Legends “ruins the game,” to be fixed Olivia Richman Riot took to Twitter to address how the past two competitive seasons have seemed to be a slower climb than ever before for many players.  “This is intentional. We really don’t want players creating alt accounts just to blow through the climb. We encourage players to stay on their mains. Smurfing ruins the game experience for others,” Riot tweeted.  Smurfing, a practice in which a highly ranked player creates a …
Pobelter is returning to the LCS in the mid lane for CLG League of Legends
Pobelter is returning to the LCS in the mid lane for CLG Olivia Richman After spending the first half of the LCS Spring Split in 10th place, Counter Logic Gaming have decided to make a big change to their roster.  This weekend, get ready to see Eugene “Pobelter” Park on the LCS Arena stage as CLG’s starting mid laner. The veteran mid laner will be replacing Lee “Crown” Min-ho, who curently has the most deaths and the lowest KDA of any mid laner in the …
TFT patch 10.4 reimagines Glacial units, nerfs Crystal and Poison League of Legends TFT patch 10.4 reimagines Glacial units, nerfs Crystal and Poison By William Davis LoL Patch 10.4 nerfs Sona and Soraka, expands jungle champion pool League of Legends LoL Patch 10.4 nerfs Sona and Soraka, expands jungle champion pool By William Davis CBLOL studio destroyed, league postponed until end of February League of Legends CBLOL studio destroyed, league postponed until end of February By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
G2 jungler Jankos admits that he’s not far from retirement League of Legends
G2 jungler Jankos admits that he’s not far from retirement Syed Mujtaba Naqvi Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski shared he might be retiring sooner than many expected. G2 Esports’ player and the best jungler in the 2020 LEC Spring Split doesn’t plan on playing competitively for much longer. In an interview with a Polish portal Esportmania, Jankos shared he’s looking to end his career relatively soon when asked about streaming. Jankos said he doesn’t get much rest as a pro player, stating there’s no time …
Faker becomes part owner of T1 with new three-year contract League of Legends
Faker becomes part owner of T1 with new three-year contract William Davis Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok extended his contract with T1 through 2022 and is now a part owner of the global organization. Every offseason the community waits for the day that Faker announces where is he playing next. Year after year, the decision is the same, to stay with T1. Now, the organization has guaranteed that Faker is not going anywhere, likely for the rest of his life. Faker is the face …
Riot’s Latin America League reveals its bold new rebrand for 2020 League of Legends
Riot’s Latin America League reveals its bold new rebrand for 2020 Olivia Richman Riot’s Latin America League has a new brand identity.  Also known as the Liga Latinoamérica, the brand refresh is meant to celebrate the recent merging of the Northern and Southern Latin American leagues with their audiences. A press release described the redesign as a way to “bridge the divide by building a passionate, united new community.”  Taking inspiration from grafitti and streetwear, the new brand was formed by branding agency …
Cloud9 destroys EG, still undefeated in the 2020 LCS Spring Split League of Legends
Cloud9 destroys EG, still undefeated in the 2020 LCS Spring Split William Davis   Cloud9 closed Week 4 in the 2020 LCS Spring season with a convincing victory over Evil Geniuses, and the team remains undefeated. C9 just crossed another name on its list. The team earned its eighth consecutive victory of the season and is getting closer to the perfect split. The match against Evil Geniuses was a one-sided affair that finished one second before the 30-minute mark. So far in the …
DragonX in controversy after leaking scrim results versus Griffin William Davis League of Legends DragonX issued a formal apology after accidentally leaking its scrim against Griffin. On Monday, DragonX posted an apology on Twitter. According to the statement, the team accidentally streamed a scrim against Griffin on YouTube. The team clarified that this is their preferred method for reviews. The scrims are unlisted on YouTube and can only be accessed by the people in the organization that have the link. The scrim against Griffin …
HenryG calls Riot Games’ Project A “best game since CSGO” in alpha William Davis League of Legends The first details about Riot Games’ Project A have been revealed. During a ten-year celebration in October 2019, Riot Games showed a glimpse of Project A, the first FPS to be developed by the company. At the time, Riot Games only revealed that it was a character-based tactical shooter. The project was a work in progress and the release date was not announced at the time. A group of select …
Forg1ven leaves and Schalke 04 improves, so what went wrong? William Davis League of Legends FC Schalke 04 got its first victory in the LEC against no other than G2 Esports. The quick improvement by the team comes just days after bot laner Konstantinos-Napoleon “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou decided to step down from the main roster. 2020 has been rough for Schalke and its fans. The team is currently 1-7, stuck in ninth place. The only team worse than Schalke is the winless Team Vitality. Coming into …
Current LCS team standings after one month of the 2020 Spring Split Olivia Richman League of Legends The LCS Spring Split is almost halfway done and it’s starting to become clear which LCS teams are on top and which are underperforming. And a lot of the standings come as a surprise if we go by the preseason roster changes and predictions. Despite losing veteran Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi during a controversial preseason, Cloud9 look to be unstoppable in 2020. Yet to drop a game this season, it appears that their …
FlyQuest gets a big win over TSM in the 2020 LCS Spring Split William Davis League of Legends Team SoloMid is ending Week 4 in the 2020 LCS Spring season with two losses, as the team fell on Sunday against FlyQuest. TSM couldn’t keep its winning streak going in Week 4. The team lost on Saturday against Cloud9 and against FlyQuest the following day. This result is a step back for the team that was confidently climbing the LCS ladder. TSM went from being tied in second place …
Liquid stomps over CLG for Broxah’s first win in the LCS Syed Mujtaba Naqvi News Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid met in the fourth week of the 2020 LCS Spring Split. The teams started the day on the bottom of the standings, but Liquid now climbed a placement higher. CLG decided to go for outplays with knock-up abilities from Gragas and Nautilus in combination with Yasuo. Liquid focused on high pressure and crowd control with Mordekaiser, Tahm Kench, and Sejuani. Only two minutes into …
Changes to Jayce, Lux, new Blood Moon chromas and more on PBE Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends The latest update to League of Legends’ public beta server introduced new chromas for Blood Moon Katarina and some tentative balance changes. Ahead of patch 10.4 for which Riot Games is preparing significant nerfs for supports that started shining too bright on the top lane, the developer is putting to test a few other balance changes it believes to be necessary for the healthy environment of the game. Jayce, Kayle, …
Cloud9 takes down TSM, remains undefeated in 2020 LCS Spring Split William Davis League of Legends Cloud9 is undefeated in the 2020 LCS Spring Split, as the team picked up its seventh victory of the season against Team SoloMid. C9 is unstoppable in the LCS, and the team is yet to drop a game this season. C9 has established itself as the team to beat in North America, and its aggressive and proactive style keeps the team ahead of its opponents. The team has faced the strongest …
Fans can adopt cute dogs and puppies at 2020 LCS tailgate Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends In front of the doors to the LCS Studio, League of Legends fans today have an opportunity to spend some time with puppies, hopefully also deciding to adopt them. In collaboration with Los Angeles’ dog rescue Wags and Walks, the LCS is bringing adoptable dogs to the tailgate of this week’s 2020 LCS Spring Split. Wags and Walks shelters family friendly dogs from high-kill shelters, meaning these dogs were looking …
Immortals spoils Broxah’s first game with Team Liquid in the LCS Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends The fourth week of the 2020 LCS Spring Split opened with a match between Team Liquid and Immortals. Both teams shared a 4-2 score ahead of the game, but it’s Immortals that secured a second slot on the current standings, and Liquid that fell to ninth. This was a big match for Liquid as it was the first time the team performed with Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen, its new starting jungler …
Misfits ruins perfect season for G2 Esports in LEC Spring Split William Davis League of Legends G2 Esports is no longer undefeated in the 2020 LEC Spring season, as the team fell against a Misfits squad that keeps climbing in the standings. The 18-0 dream is over for G2. Misfits broke G2’s winning streak and secured themselves a tie for second place. After a disastrous 2019, Misfits has recovered with help from a new coaching staff and a new roster. The team is now a combination of rookies …
Team Secret expands, announces new League of Legends team in VCS Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends Team Secret has announced a Vietnamese League of Legends team. Team Secret is a European esports organization that fields one of the most successful Dota 2 teams in the world. The organization has now expanded to Dota 2’s rival MOBA, League of Legends. Secret shared the news on Twitter, announcing the new lineup as well. The team is starting its journey in the 2020 Vietnam Championship Series Spring Spit. Though the …

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.