League of Legends
League of Legends
Dignitas opens new training and media facility as LCS return looms
William Davis
Dignitas has a new home. The organization celebrated the grand opening of its new content and media facility, a 3,000-square-foot space in Newark, New Jersey. This new training ground is located near the New Jersey Devils’ home, the Prudential Center. The team and arena are both owned by Dignitas parent company Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment. The Dignitas gaming and media facility features a 500-square foot content studio sponsored by …
League of Legends
Team Liquid break up 6-way tie in LCS with win over Golden Guardians
William Davis
The six-way tie at the top of the LCS is over but the summer split remains competitive. After week three wrapped up with six teams owning a 4-2 record, things got back to normal in week four as top squads were forced to face off. One of the key matchups was the showdown between Team Liquid and the Golden Guardians. Though many were expecting a tight, competitive game, it was …
League of Legends
Team Liquid partners with HUYA to bring player livestreams to China
Olivia Richman
Team Liquid began searching for a Chinese streaming partner two years ago, and they’ve finally partnered with game streaming platform HUYA. Through this exclusive partnership, Team Liquid will have its players’ Twitch streams also available on the HUYA platform, using Restream.io, a back-end system that allows players to restream onto different platforms. This includes their League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Apex Legends, PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds, and Hearthstone players. This most …
League of Legends
SKT benches LoL legend Faker during series against Griffin
Olivia Richman
It’s looking like SK Telecom T1 might miss out on another trip to the World Championship. The organization is currently in ninth place in the LCK Summer Split after losing to Griffin, a team they swept in the grand finals of the LCK 2019 Spring Playoffs. The team’s decline is surprising on its own but even more shocking is that Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, the League of Legends god himself, was benched halfway …
League of Legends
Riot Pls video discusses client updates, Teamfight Tactics, and more
gabhernandez
Riot has released their latest “Riot Pls” video, giving fans a bit of news on a number of different topics. It has been nearly a year since the last installment in the series and a lot has happened in the months since. With the pro League of Legends summer season in full swing and a number of major projects on its hands, Riot had a lot to discuss. Lead producer …
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics developer talks future champions and winning games
Olivia Richman
Riot game designer David “Volty” Abecassis has released a developer blog concerning what it takes to master Teamfight Tactics and to discuss what changes the game mode may see in the near future. Just an hour after its release on testing servers, Teamfight Tactics became the most popular game on Twitch. That happened after 9,000 players were put on a wait list when the game reached full capacity in just …
League of Legends
Fnatic stay undefeated in LEC Summer Split with win over G2 Esports
William Davis
Fnatic is the last undefeated team standing in the LEC. Despite facing stiff odds, Fnatic bested G2 Esports in a bloody game. That victory advanced their record in the Summer Split to 5-0 and places them atop the standings. Though G2 were picked by many to take the match, the team dug their own graves in the early game when they decided to have their players go off-role, with mid …
League of Legends
League of Legends World Championship locations and dates revealed
Olivia Richman
Riot has finally announced dates and locations for the League of Legends World Championship. The four-month event is the largest LoL tournament of the year, the culmination of the competitive LoL season. Top teams from around the world will compete in Europe for the Summoner’s Cup and the title of World Champion. Twenty four teams from 13 regional leagues will be competing at the play-in stage, which will start …
LGD Condi receives 18-month ban after alleged match fixing in China
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
Xiang “Condi” Ren-Jie, jungler for LPL team LGD Gaming, has been issued a ban for a period of 18 months. The ban will run through December 2020. Condi admitted to an LPL official that he had violated gambling rules based on the outcome of a match that he was involved in. It is thought that this may have involved a bet placed on LGD to win at a tournament that …
Teamfight Tactics becomes top game on Twitch in its debut
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
After just one hour on testing servers, League of Legend’s aubobattler game mode Teamfight Tactics became the top viewng category on Twitch. With over 190,000 viewers by its second hour, Teamfight Tactics beat Grand Theft Auto V, Fortnite, and League of Legends. This was, in part, due to some of the top streamers, like Michael “imaqtpie” Santana, streaming the new game mode. Teamfight Tactics also saw instant success when it …
FlyQuest launches Gamers in Action supporting non-profits, charities
William Davis
League of Legends
Esports organization FlyQuest has now launched the new Gamers in Action initiative. FlyQuest is attempting to showcase greatness through its new Gamers in Action initiative. The project is looking to support causes that are important to the team’s players and staff members, in addition to other initiatives of significance. Under the Gamers in Action initiative, FlyQuest has launched a campaign to raise awareness about the international World Refugee Day. The …
Dignitas jerseys to feature betting platform in new sponsorship deal
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Dignitas has signed a three-year partnership deal with betting platform VIE.gg. “I am very proud of this new partnership with Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and their Dignitas esports brand, which is founded in our shared common beliefs of player safety above all else,” Esports Entertainment Group’s CEO Grant Johnson said. Esports Entertainment Group’s VIE.gg will be an esport jersey sponsor for three of Dignitas’ teams. This includes Rocket League, …
Team Liquid launches Heal for Real campaign with exclusive merch
William Davis
League of Legends
American esports organization Team Liquid, in collaboration with Blood Centers of America, has launched the Heal for Real initiative. Team Liquid celebrated World Blood Donor Day with a new initiative called Heal for Real. The new campaign encourages Team Liquid fans to become blood donors. In return, they can get some limited edition Team Liquid merchandise. The initiative will run through 2019, and the new donors can join through one …
G2 Wunder uses MS Paint to send a message during live LEC game
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
In the June 15 LEC clash between G2 Esports and Vitality Esports, Martin “Wunder” Hansen gave a little treat to Pro View spectators by writing a message in Microsoft Paint during the game. The game featured several surprises, such as Luka “PerkZ” Perković bringing Pyke into the bottom lane and the first victory in the LEC for new support champion Yuumi. But it was the MS Paint incident that stole …
LEC summer final heads to Greece for the first time in its history
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has announced Greece as the new destination for the LEC Summer Split finals, with Lion Cereals as the presenting partner. For the first time in history, Athens is hosting the most important European League of Legends event of the summer. On September 7, two teams will compete for a spot in the final match, which will be played out on September 8. “We are very excited to bring …
LCS has six-way tie for first place after TSM defeats Cloud9
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid is at the top of the LCS, albeit with quite a bit of company. The team entered into a six-way tie for first place after beating Cloud9, reasserting themselves over an opponent they toppled in the spring playoff semifinals. The outcome continued the trend for both teams’ summer season which has seen them perform well, but not flawlessly. Both sides entered Sunday coming off wins on Saturday, with …
100 Thieves coach Pr0lly discusses recent struggles, firing himself
gabhernandez
League of Legends
Neil “pr0lly” Hammad is well aware of the frustration among 100 Thieves fans. The team’s coach has been hit with a lot of blame for their struggles in 2019. Speaking with Travis Gafford, Pr0lly gave his take on 100 Thieves’ issues and directly responded to fans’ calls for him to step down as coach. According to Pr0lly, the current issue facing 100 Thieves is a lack of cohesion within the …
Sneaky discusses C9 win over OpTic, lag in NA, Korea, and cosplay
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Cloud 9 is now sitting at 4-1 after giving OpTic Gaming their first loss of the LCS Summer Split. The goal, Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi said, is to win the split. But how they get there is different in each season. Sneaky spoke with WIN.gg after the victory to discuss the win, their plans for the season, and some of his new cosplay ideas. How did you feel about the match today? …
Team Liquid defeat FlyQuest but future remains uncertain
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid started its week three off right. Despite entering the week on shaky footing, Liquid was able to make the most out of a soft matchup against FlyQuest. This allowed the Spring playoffs champions to keep their place in the intensely competitive LCS standings. FlyQuest opened the game by having Lucas “Santorin” Larsen and Eugene “Pobelter” Park focus in on Liquid mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen. Multiple roams netted …
Fnatic get revenge on Origen for LEC Spring Playoffs upset
William Davis
League of Legends
Revenge is a dish best served cold and Fnatic proved it on Friday. The LEC elite got a bit of payback on Origen for the squad’s upset win in the semifinals of the LEC 2019 Spring Playoffs. Though Fnatic entered a considerable favorite over Origen, the team undoubtedly felt an extra bit of satisfaction taking this win. The game started in unorthodox fashion for Fnatic with top laner Gabriël “Bwipo” …
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
SK Telecom T1 blanked by Griffin, slip to 9th place in LCK
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Nightblue3 suspended from League of Legends for making bogus reports
By
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Misfits bench Febiven and add LIDER to starting lineup after loss
By
Olivia Richman
