League of Legends
League of Legends
Sneaky reveals new K/DA Akali cosplay before World Championship
Olivia Richman
Cloud9’s AD carry Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi isn’t only showing off his skills at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Just weeks away from competing in League’s largest tournament of the year, Sneaky has debuted a jaw droppingly accurate K/DA Akali cosplay. Shared on his Twitter, the photographs show Sneaky in a cropped metallic bomber jacket, skin-tight leather pants, and a K/DA cap and mouth mask. Complete with a sexy …
League of Legends
LEC vs. LCS viewership takes surprising turn after TSM’s decline
William Davis
The summer split came to an end around the world and teams are now getting ready for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. The numbers are in and the LEC enjoyed a higher viewership count than its North American counterpart during the season According to stats published by analytical service Esports Charts, the LEC surpassed the LCS in viewership throughout most of the season. The rivalry between the LEC and …
League of Legends
Riot Games announces Teamfight Tactics competition coming in 2020
Olivia Richman
Teamfight Tactics is finally getting a competitive scene. In a press release from Riot earlier today, product lead Richad “Maple Nectar” Henkel announced that TFT will be receiving competitive support in 2020. This came after developers gathered gameplay data, which revealed that ranked mode was the most popular choice for the auto battler’s playerbase. “The hunger is definitely there. The proportion of ranked to normal games of TFT is 4:1, and the …
League of Legends
Riot prepares for Worlds 2019 with patch 9.19 buffs and nerfs
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends patch 9.19 is live and has brought balance changes to a number of champions, along with new skins, chromas, and some bug fixes. The most important patch of the season and the patch League of Legends 2019 World Championship will be played on is now live across all servers. With Riot Games not wanting to negatively impact Worlds participants with impulsive changes, this patch includes a long …
League of Legends
LMS, LST to be merged into new PCS League of Legends league
Nina Forneloza
Riot Games has announced a new 10-team league for southeast Asia. The league will combine the League Master Series and the League of Legends Southeast Asia Tour. An announcement by Riot Games and Garena confirmed the league will launch in 2020 and aims to increase competition within the region. Garena is a gaming and esports platform from Southeast Asia which licenses a number of games, including League of Legends, FIFA …
League of Legends
Twitch Prime offering TFT little legends in monthly loot
William Davis
Twitch Prime is offering little legends eggs as part of its monthly loot. The Teamfight Tactics fever continues and Twitch is offering a little legend twin egg to the every League of Legend players with a prime account. The twin egg includes two random little legends that will be delivered directly to the account linked with Twitch. The offer can only be applied to one account in one region. …
League of Legends
OAM to shut down Splyce office, rebrand LEC team as MAD Lions
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
According to ESPN, OverActive Media is shutting down Splyce’s home office in New York and continuing their esports business with the main headquarters based in Toronto. Splyce was founded in 2015 as a Canadian esports organization and was sold to OAM in November 2018, when they moved to the Rochester, New York office. Less than a year later, OAM decided to shut down that office and the eight job positions …
League of Legends
Match history now ready for TFT in PBE, coming to live in 9.19
Olivia Richman
Teamfight Tactics’ long requested match history is now on PBE. As part of a Riot developer blog post, product lead Richard “MapleNectar” Henkel stated that match history is coming “very soon.” If everything “goes smoothly” on PBE, TFT fans can expect match history to go live in patch 9.19. “After it’s live, we’ll be looking to make improvements. Look for updates and a more fleshed out version a few patches …
LoL Worlds groups picked, SKT in group of death with RNG, Fnatic
William Davis
News
On September 23, Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi and Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro from Team Vitality drafted the 2019 LoL World Championship groups. The LoL Worlds groups are locked in and ready for the start of the competition on October 2 from Berlin. 24 teams are meeting in Germany to take part in play-ins and the main event. The competition will then travel to Madrid, Spain for the knockout stage. In the …
G2 Esports, SKT, Liquid among teams in LoL Worlds 2019 main event
William Davis
News
The 2019 LoL Worlds Championship starts on October 2 with the play-in stage where 12 teams will compete for a spot in the main event. The LoL Worlds main event is packed with the best of the best. Not a single team should be underestimated because the current state of the game could make it anyone’s day. The closing gap between eastern and western LoL pro teams makes this the most …
Riot planning 3 more Marvel Comics series based on LoL
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
Riot Games is going to continue creating new comic books based on League of Legends. In a post on the LoL forum, writer Odin “WAAARGHbobo” Shafer revealed that, with the story of Lux now finished, the company will be working with Marvel Comics on three new series. Riot has launched two comics series with Marvel Comics focused on Lux and Ashe. The series delved into the lore of the League …
Leaks hint new K/DA songs Gold and GAME/OVER arriving in November
William Davis
News
Recent leaks suggest that new songs may be coming from fictional K-pop group K/DA. The K/DA Genius page was recently updated to include two new singles, titled “Gold” and “GAME/OVER.” It is unclear whether this was an intentional leak or if this was made in error. The posting remained on Genius for two days before being taken down. Riot Games has not issued a statement on the subject. Neither song …
Louis Vuitton producing LoL skins, case for Summoner’s Cup at Worlds
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends developer Riot Games is partnering up with Louis Vuitton for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Louis Vuitton, a luxury fashion house known around the world, will produce a custom trophy case for the Summoner’s Cup, which will be awarded to the winners of the tournament. “For the Championship Finals in Paris on November 10th, 2019, Louis Vuitton is creating, in collaboration with Riot, an unprecedented, …
Alien Invader Heimerdinger is back thanks to Area 51 gathering
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Gamers hoping to invade Area 51 just got some extra help. Riot Games announced that Heimerdinger’s Alien Invader skin is available to purchase once again. The decision seemingly stems from the buzz surrounding Area 51, with Riot associate program manager Mel Capperino-Garcia tweeting: “When the Area 51 raid has been successful, and you get to bring home your own alien invader.” A few days ago, League of Legends players …
Riot planning LoL 10th anniversary celebration in London
gabhernandez
League of Legends
Riot Games has a special, real-life event planned for League of Legends’ 10th birthday. According to a note sent out by the publisher that was promptly leaked across Reddit, a number of people have been offered a trip to London for a “special celebration” to honor those who have played an important role in the game’s growth. Included in the invitation are travel and room accommodations, as well as coverage …
The LCK is looking for a new broadcaster to replace PapaSmithy
William Davis
League of Legends
Korea’s prime League of Legends competition, the LCK, is looking for a color commentator for its English broadcast. On August 31, Chris “PapaSmithy” Smith announced that he would be exiting the LCK. The announcement took the community by surprise. PapaSmithy is a respected caster and analyst in the League of Legends community and the face of the LCK’s English broadcast. Now, the league is looking for someone that could fill …
LoL PBE 9.18 changes buff Akali, revert Sylas and Cassiopeia
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The League of Legends Public Beta Environment (PBE) servers have received an update featuring balance changes, new icons, and visual improvements. Riot Games is preparing for the 2019 World Championship and is testing out balance changes that will shuffle and set the tournament’s meta. With the latest update to the game’s PBE servers come changes to Akali, Cassiopeia, and Sylas, as well as three new summoner icons, improvements to the …
Clutch, Splyce among teams in LoL Worlds 2019 play-in stage
William Davis
News
The 2019 LoL World Championship is right around the corner. The best teams in the world are ready to fight for the most important title in competitive League of Legends. It all starts with the play-in stage, where 12 teams will compete for one of the four spots available in the main event. The teams come from emerging and major regions alike. For the first time, the LCK’s third seed …
MyLoLSim shut down by Riot, creator plans new replacement sim
William Davis
League of Legends
A fan-made League of Legends simulator designed to replicate real pro matches has been decommissioned following pressure from Riot Games. Simulator “MyLolSim” was created by developer and LoL fan Marcus, who goes by the username “Schlafen.” An in-game user of MyLoLSim could go into detail designing their own team, including options such as creating players with their own names and assigning specific pick orders. The objective was to allow a …
League of Legends reveals new logo, fans don’t seem to like it
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot Games has revealed a new League of Legends logo for the game’s 10-year anniversary. The minimalist design emits a vintage vibe that many League of Legends players don’t seem to find very appealing. As with most gaming discussions, fans flocked online to let their concerns be known. “Overall it’ll take time to grow on me, I’m just not used to it. I don’t blame Riot for doing this though. …
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.
League of Legends
Riot says Teamfight Tactics has over 33 million players per month
By
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Griffin parts ways with coach cvMax ahead of LoL Worlds 2019
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Worlds Pick’em returns for 2019 League of Legends World Championship
By
Nina Forneloza
