League of Legends
League of Legends
Team Yassuo beats Team Tyler1, Europe tramples NA in Twitch Rivals
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
The Twitch Rivals show matches featuring some of League of Legends’ most popular streamers saw Team Europe and Team Yassuo come out on top. The matches were played at TwitchCon 2019 in San Diego, California. The first set of games featured a team of European streamers taking on their North American counterparts. The second set, named Rumble on the Rift, pitted teams led by Tyler “tyler1” Steinkamp and Hammoudi “Yassuo” …
League of Legends
Top 10 players at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship
William Davis
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship is right around the corner. 24 teams from all over the world are gathering in Europe for the most important event of the year for competitive League of Legends. This year is full of narratives about struggles and overcoming obstacles. Every team has something different to prove at the tournament, from first-timers to the domestic giants. Over 100 players will attend the event …
League of Legends
TCL player accuses Galatasaray of not paying him for months
Olivia Richman
Turkish Championship League team Galatasaray is being accused of not paying their League of Legends team. In a TwitLonger titled “GS Esports is not paying their players,” former Galatasaray player Barış “Tolerant” Çepnioğlu accused the organization of witholding his pay for four months. Tolerant began by apologizing to fans who supported him during his time with Galatasaray, which ended in April. But he felt he had no choice to release …
League of Legends
League of Legends World Championship event pass hits with Ryze skin
William Davis
The League of Legends Worlds pass is available now. To celebrate the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, Riot Games released the World pass and missions. Players from around the world can enjoy the event that will be available through November 19. The World Championship event started on September 26 with a pass that goes for 1,650 RP, or roughly $12. Purchasing the World Championship pass grants one commemorative …
League of Legends
Invictus Gaming goes to LoL World Championship without coach Karam
William Davis
Defending champion and LPL representative Invictus Gaming is not taking head coach Kim “Karam” Ga-ram to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Invictus Gaming has announced the roster and coaching staff going to the LoL World Championship and coach Karam was not included on the list. Instead, the team has listed Won “Mafa” Sang-yeon as the head coach. The announcement comes two weeks before the start of the event …
League of Legends
Faker and Clid are climb the ranked ladder ahead of LoL Worlds
William Davis
SK Telecom T1 duo Kim “Clid” Tae-min and Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok are taking over the Korean ladder ahead of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. On stream, Faker promised that he would climb in the Korean server until he reached the number one rank. So far, SKT’s mid laner is looking to keep his promise. Faker has been putting in the hours and right now is the highest-ranked mid laner …
League of Legends
Evil Geniuses to return to LCS in 2020, acquire Echo Fox slot
William Davis
Evil Geniuses is set to join the LCS in 2020 after completing the acquisition of Echo Fox’s slot franchise slot in the league. According to a release by the team, Evil Geniuses successfully completed the acquisition of an LCS slot and will join the competition in 2020. “After an extensive diligence process, we’re happy to report that our bid has been accepted by Riot Games for the open LCS spot …
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 …
LEC vs. LCS viewership takes surprising turn after TSM’s decline
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
Riot Games announces Teamfight Tactics competition coming in 2020
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
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 …
Riot prepares for Worlds 2019 with patch 9.19 buffs and nerfs
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
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 …
Riot says Teamfight Tactics has over 33 million players per month
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot Games have revealed some incredible Teamfight Tactics statistics that prove the game mode’s success. According to a recent press release, TFT has over 33 million players each month. “I want to try to put into perspective just how large the TFT community is to help highlight why we’re going to be investing more into the mode,” developer Richard “Maple Nectar” Henkel said. This statistic may not be what people expect, since …
Griffin parts ways with coach cvMax ahead of LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
LCK representative Griffin has parted ways with head coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho just weeks before the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. On September 26, Griffin released a statement through Twitter where the organization thanked cvMax for his time with the team. “For Griffin’s new journey, the contract with coach Kim Dae-Ho (cvMax) has ended with mutual agreement. We sincerely thank coach cvMax for his time with Team Griffin. Thank you,” wrote …
Worlds Pick’em returns for 2019 League of Legends World Championship
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship is just around the corner. This year, Europe and North America seem to have a real shot at taking home the Summoner’s Cup and its newly designed Louis Vuitton case. Will Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng and Team Liquid finally make it out of groups? Will G2 Esports continue to be a force on the international stage? Will Fnatic be able to get revenge and …
LMS, LST to be merged into new PCS League of Legends league
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
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 …
Twitch Prime offering TFT little legends in monthly loot
William Davis
League of Legends
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. …
OAM to shut down Splyce office, rebrand LEC team as MAD Lions
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
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 …
Match history now ready for TFT in PBE, coming to live in 9.19
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
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 …
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 Games speaks on future plans for League of Legends engine
By
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Kai’Sa joins TFT for patch 9.19 along with other buffs, nerfs
By
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Dignitas forms New Meta Entertainment after $30 million investment
By
Olivia Richman
