League of Legends
League of Legends
Cloud9 score wild comeback win over TSM in 2019 LCS Summer Split
William Davis
Cloud9 scored a big rebound win to close out their week. In a highly anticipated match between fan favorite organizations, Cloud9 kept fans on the edge of their seat with a wild comeback against Team SoloMid. It was a much-needed victory for the team after taking a shock loss to Echo Fox in their first game of week six of the 2019 LCS Summer Split. Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg channeled his …
League of Legends
New PROJECT skins coming to League of Legends for Pyke, Akali, and more
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
New PROJECT skins are coming to League of Legends, but the surprise reveal ended up fizzling out a bit. A brief teaser trailer was shared across League of Legends’ social media channels hinting at new science fiction-themed skins on July 13. The next day, another video dropped featuring new looks for Akali, Pyke, Jinx, and Irelia. Riot’s tweet of the video contains hints on the lore implications of the reveal, …
League of Legends
Team Liquid take first place in LCS Summer Split with win over CLG
William Davis
Team Liquid is dominating the 2019 LCS Summer Split. The LCS Spring Playoffs champion scored a big victory over Counter Logic Gaming and is now alone at the top of the LCS standings. Liquid entered the week in a three-way tie for first. During the draft, Liquid focused the jungle champion pool. Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin picked his first Elise of the summer split and teamed up with top laner Kim …
League of Legends
G2 Esports crush Misfits in LEC return, give fans taste of 9.13 meta
William Davis
G2 Esports didn’t just beat Misfits Gaming, they destroyed them. G2 came back from a well-deserved break stronger than ever. The LEC Spring champions started week four with a dominant victory over Misfits. Jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski on Sylas started the game with a cheeky invade in the top side of the jungle. Misfits chased him out and kept their camps intact for the moment. Top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer …
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming makes another coaching change amid struggles
William Davis
Clutch Gaming has parted ways with head coach Brendan “mcscrag” McGee. Clutch is changing coaches yet again. Mcscrag is leaving the position after just one and a half splits spent in charge of the LCS squad. “Grateful for the opportunity to have worked with these players and wish them the best. I learned a lot this past year and look forward to applying it in whatever’s next,” mcscrag said on …
League of Legends
League patch 9.14 removes Aatrox resurrection, among other changes
William Davis
League of Legends patch 9.14 will be bringing some big changes to Summoner’s Rift, including the removal of Aatrox’s iconic revive ability. The Darkin Blade’s resurrection has remained the most consistent piece of his kit since his release. It previously was a part of Aatrox’s original passive, Blood Well, before it became a part of his new ultimate ability World Ender following a full rework of the champion in 2018. …
League of Legends
League of Legends caster Kobe pursues projects outside of League
Olivia Richman
LCS caster and analyst Sam “Kobe” Hartman-Kenzler announced earlier today that he will be pursuing projects outside of Riot Games. “I will still work full-time on the LCS, which I love, but I’ll also be working on additional projects outside of Riot that I’ll share soon,” Kobe said. He then thanked Riot Games and his fans for supporting him. Along with the announcement, Kobe changed his Twitter handle from @RiotKobe …
League of Legends
LEC Summer Split is the most viewed pro split since 2015
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends developer Riot Games has recently announced that the current Summer Split of the 2019 LEC has recorded the highest viewership figures for any regular season split since 2015. Riot reported in April a record breaking debut split of the LEC, and this recent announcement continues to speak to that success. In the opening three weeks of the league, viewing figures were an impressive 37% higher than this …
TSM and Logitech continue esports sponsorship agreement
M Alzamora
League of Legends
Team SoloMid and Logitech have come to terms on a three-year extension of their long-running partnership. Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. If previous perks of the sponsorship are anything to go by, TSM’s financial benefits will come in the form of free Logitech gear for players, travel and lodgings, and likely a hefty sum of cash to play around with. In turn, Logitech gets to tie its name …
SK Telecom T1 return to LCK with crushing win over Hanwha
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 might just be on a hot streak. The LCK spring champions destroyed Hanwha Life Esports in their return to the LCK and are climbing in the standings. The team returned to their league with the aggressive style they tinkered with at Rift Rivals 2019. In game one, SKT showed a new look with Lee “Effort” Sang-ho in the support role. Despite that tweak the team played a …
Misfits and Outerstuff launch new line of esports apparel
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Misfits Gaming and Outerstuff are partnering up to launch a line of esports and gaming apparel. CEO and co-founder of Misfits Ben Spoont has said that even though esports has a large and passionate fanbase, the fanbase doesn’t yet have the needed availability of licensed apparel worldwide. “As a team owner myself, I’ve experienced firsthand the many issues relating to designing, manufacturing, and distributing the apparel that fans are clamoring …
Counter Logic Gaming beats TSM for first time since 2016
William Davis
League of Legends
Counter Logic Gaming has finally broken its losing streak against Team SoloMid. During week five of the 2019 LCS Summer Split, CLG put an end to its three-year losing streak against the team, 1,176 days after the run began. The victory came in large part thanks to excellent performances from jungler Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin and mid laner Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage. The rivalry between CLG and TSM is an old one, …
Team Liquid beat 100 Thieves in LCS, remain in first-place tie
William Davis
News
Team Liquid is back in the win column. Following an upset defeat at the hands of Cloud9, the Spring champions took down 100 Thieves. The win was a much-needed one, as it keeps Liquid in the hunt for first place in the LCS. The LCS is currently playing on Patch 9.12, so Team Liquid took the chance to play Sona and Taric in the bottom lane. 100 Thieves opted for …
LCK topples LPL, finally comes out on top at Rift Rivals 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
The LCK finally won a Rift Rivals. After coming up short in the first two installments of the event, the third time proved to be the charm for Korea’s foremost League of Legends organizations. After four days of fierce competition, the Korean teams took home the top prize at the Jangchung Arena in Seoul, South Korea. The series finished after four exciting matches with the LCK taking a 3-1 victory. …
Cloud9 score big upset of Team Liquid, join 5-way tie for first in LCS
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 is putting their embarrassing Rift Rivals 2019 performance behind them and look ready to take over the LCS. The first round robin of the summer season wrapped up with Cloud9 scoring a huge win over Team Liquid. Despite looking unsteady in recent outings, the team is now in a tie for first place in the LCS. After riding the bench last week due to illness, bottom laner Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi …
LPL sweeps LMS and VCS in Rift Rivals, takes on LCK in finals
William Davis
League of Legends
The LPL is heading to the grand finals of Rift Rivals 2019. For the third year in a row, the LPL and the LCK are meeting in the final stage of the event. The Chinese side earned their spot there by sweeping the LMS and VCS team 3-0 in the semifinals. Flash Wolves and JD Gaming were the starters for the best of five series. Throughout the tournament, Flash Wolves …
Bjergsen: “NA needs to step it up” after rough Rift Rivals showing
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
The 2019 Rift Rivals NA vs. EU tournament was a forgettable one for North American fans, but there are still lessons that can be learned from it. With the dust still settling from the event, Team SoloMid mid laner Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg opened up on the tournament and the LCS’s rough outing. Though many were doom and gloom about the state of the LCS, Bjergsen stated that important lessons were …
Riot Games partners up to launch new DACH league
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Riot Games is launching a League of Legends national league for the DACH region in partnership with Freaks 4U Gaming and Lagardère Sports. DACH region includes Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH). The new league will be a direct product of this long-term partnership as an expansion of the Premier Tour circuit in 2020. The league will be exclusive to German-speaking teams as the collaboration of the three strong …
Invictus Gaming roars at Rift Rivals with wins over SKT, Flash Wolves
William Davis
League of Legends
Invictus Gaming looks to be in top form for Rift Rivals 2019. The defending world champions made their debut on day two of Rift Rivals 2019. There, the squad closed the group stage with two decisive victories. IG’s day started with a match against Flash Wolves from the LMS. The LPL representatives struggled early but made a strong comeback in the mid game by punishing Flash Wolves’ reckless aggression. From …
LCK earns spot in Rift Rivals grand finals, looks to end curse
William Davis
League of Legends
The LCK has seeded directly into the Rift Rivals 2019 finals. Damwon Gaming, Griffin, Kingzone DragonX, and SK Telecom T1 combined for seven wins in the group stage. That tally puts the Korean teams in first place, followed by the LPL with five victories. The coalition of the LMS and VCS finished third with no wins. Since its creation in 2017, Rift Rivals has been the Achilles’ heel for 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.
League of Legends
League of Legends viewership tops Twitch halfway through 2019
By
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
LEC Spring Split Finals contributed millions to Rotterdam economy
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Gen.G upsets Griffin, ends winning streak with surprise Volibear pick
By
Nina Forneloza
