League of Legends
League of Legends
Unicorns of Love upsets Clutch Gaming to start LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
Unicorns of Love opened the 2019 League of Legends World Championship with a major upset over Clutch Gaming. The play-in stage kicked off on October 2 with an opening match between Unicorns of Love from the LCL and Clutch Gaming from the LCS. Clutch came into the match as the favorite but Unicorns of Love had another thing in mind. In picks and bans, Unicorns of Love surprised with …
League of Legends
Splyce starts LoL Worlds 2019 with convincing victory over DFM
William Davis
Splyce destroyed DetonatioN FocusMe in their first match at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Splyce is off to a good start at Worlds 2019, as the LEC representative took down DetonatioN FocusMe in a fast game. DFM innovated with Nocturne in the mid lane while Splyce kept it simple with a standard composition. Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir started the game with a gank in the bottom lane and …
League of Legends
LoL World Championship play-in schedule with Clutch, Splyce, more
William Davis
We are hours away from the 2019 League of Legends World Championship getting underway, and if you’re wondering when the games officially begin, we’ve got you covered. This year the tournament starts in Berlin, Germany, where the teams have been boot camping for the past month. The play-ins and group stage will be played in Berlin starting on October 2. Each region is sending its bests teams to take part in …
League of Legends
Esports Awards caster finalists include PapaSmithy and MonteCristo
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
The finalists for The Esports Awards’ caster of the year award have been announced with the public vote going live. This years’ finalists include casters of League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Overwatch, and more. The twelve casters that made the list are: Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett, Indiana “Froskurinn” Juniper, Christopher “PapaSmithy” Smith, Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, Henry “HenryG” Greer, Clint “Maven” Evans, Clayton “CaptainFlowers” Raines, Matt “Mr X” …
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 …
Riot Games speaks on future plans for League of Legends engine
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Riot Games has published a blog sharing the developer’s current thoughts and plans for the future of the engine that powers League of Legends. League of Legends technical lead Brian “Penrif” Bossé shared through the blog post how the game’s developers are coming to decisions about the game’s engine design, the difference between light-engine and heavy-engine designs, and why they at Riot are choosing to opt for heavy-engine choices moving …
Kai’Sa joins TFT for patch 9.19 along with other buffs, nerfs
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The latest patch to Teamfight Tactics has added Kai’Sa, new base item, balance changes, and improvements. League of Legends patch 9.19, with its long list of balance changes, has also implemented various changes to TFT, including adding new champion Kai’Sa, making minor changes to more than 20 champions, and adding various gameplay improvements. The TFT version of Kai’Sa is a new 5-cost champion. She belongs to the Void origin …
Dignitas forms New Meta Entertainment after $30 million investment
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Dignitas doesn’t only have eyes for the League of Legends Championship Series. The esports organization has formed a new parent company, New Meta Entertainment, after raising $30 million. New Meta Entertainment will add new facets to the company including an esports content and marketing business, as well as an esports investments division. Former Dignitas CEO Michael Prindiville has been announced as the CEO of New Meta Entertainment. “We describe …
Invictus Gaming goes to LoL World Championship without coach Karam
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
Faker and Clid are climb the ranked ladder ahead of LoL Worlds
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
Evil Geniuses to return to LCS in 2020, acquire Echo Fox slot
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
Sneaky reveals new K/DA Akali cosplay before World Championship
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
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 …
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.
