League of Legends
League of Legends
Rift Rivals NA vs EU details are set, to take place in Los Angeles
Nina Forneloza
Top League of Legends teams from North America and Europe will face off at Rift Rivals 2019 from June 27 to 29. The LEC vs. LCS tournament will be hosted in Los Angeles in the LCS studio for the second consecutive year. Team Liquid, Team SoloMid, and Cloud9 will compete against G2 Esports, Fnatic, and Origen for the title. Fnatic claimed victory last year and will look to retain its …
League of Legends
Walmart becomes official LCS merchandise partner with jerseys, more
William Davis
Official LCS merchandise and branded team jerseys are now available on consumer giant Walmart’s website. Fans from the United States can now purchase the official LCS merchandise and team jerseys through Walmart’s website. The products are available only in the United States at the moment. Through Twitter, the company shared its future plans to expand the offer to Walmart stores and locations in Canada, where the massive company also maintains …
League of Legends
Dark Star skins coming for Jhin, Karma, and Shaco in League
Nina Forneloza
Riot Games has revealed glimpses of three new League of Legends skins that are currently on the Public Beta Environment, the version of the game that is not live but where the majority of things to come are tested and tuned for release. The next champions that will gain these new skins are Jhin, Karma, and Shaco. The new skins are in the “Dark Star” theme. In this set of …
League of Legends
Walmart is selling LCS jerseys on their Esports Fan Shop
Olivia Richman
All 10 League of Legends Championship Series teams will have jerseys available on Walmart’s LCS Fan Shop. 100 Thieves, Cloud 9, Clutch Gaming, Counter Logic Gaming, Echo Fox, FlyQuest, OpTic Gaming, Golden Guardians, Team Liquid, and Team SoloMid have jerseys on Walmart’s online shop. There is also LCS-branded merchandise like zip-up hoodies and t-shirts, thanks to Walmart’s partnership with We Are Nation, LCS’ merchandise partner. We Are Nation also has official …
League of Legends
Patch 9.11 hits League of Legends, reverting Zac and nerfing Akali
William Davis
League of Legends patch 9.11 has arrived and with it comes a significant revert to the rift’s big green giant, Zac. The Riot Games balance team reworked the bouncing blob in 2017 during patch 7.9, when several of Zac’s abilities were replaced including his ultimate, Let’s Bounce. The new ability had Zac squish himself down, scoop up enemies in his area of effect, and carry them to a target location. …
League of Legends
League of Legends announces team and fan passes for summer split
Olivia Richman
League of Legends has announced team and fan passes for the 2019 Summer Split. And they’re both available tomorrow. The two new viewing experiences will reward LoL players with new ways to support their favorite pro teams and show off their esports fandom. In the past, Riot Games offered esports-themed items for major events, like the Mid-Season Invitational and the World Championship, but this will be the first time that …
League of Legends
Rick Fox revealed to be one of the worst League players in NA
Fariha Bhatti
Former NBA star and current Echo Fox co-owner Rick Fox appears to be struggling when it comes to actually playing League of Legends, as he is currently the 98th lowest ranked player in all of North America. This revelation comes from a Reddit user who took a look at Fox’s account in the ranking system and did the math to figure out that there are only 97 players with a …
League of Legends
Kingzone DragonX’s PawN skipping summer split due to health issues
Olivia Richman
Kingzone DragonX’s midlaner Heo “PawN” Won-seok will not be playing in the 2019 LCK Summer Split. The rest from competing is for PawN’s health, which has continued to worsen during the latest offseason period. After consulting with the coaching staff, PawN decided to take the season off due to these health concerns. “During the post-season vacation, his health deteriorated,” the team said. “Prior to making such a tough decision, PawN made …
Mordekaiser to receive the rework fans have long waited for
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot has recently revealed a much anticipated rework for veteran champion Mordekaiser. Along with sharing his new and updated abilities being made available on the League of Legends website, developer Riot Games has published a behind-the-scenes style YouTube video detailing the process behind the redesign. With over one million views already, the video discusses how the developers go about these champion reworks. According to game designer Justin Hanson, when it …
Pro View comes to League of Legends, offers new ways to watch games
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
With the start of the League of Legends 2019 Summer Split, fans will be able to purchase a new streaming service from Riot Games. Pro View will be available for a one-time payment of $14.99 in either USD or Euros. Users will then be able to access the new Pro View streaming function throughout the split, all the way to the beginning of the World Championship. The initial release will …
Infinite Esports reportedly owes $20 million prior to Immortals sale
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
It was reported earlier this month that Immortals Gaming Club will most likely acquire Infinite Esports, the parent company of OpTic Gaming. This was in response to Texas Esports looking to sell its stake of Infinite Esports for at least $150 million in January. Since then, Immortals has been in a bidding war with Chris Chaney and Hector “Hecz” Rodriguz. While this could possibly provide a way for Immortals to …
Rogue promotes 17-year-old Inspired to LEC roster for summer split
Fariha Bhatti
League of Legends
Rogue is currently overhauling its LEC roster for the upcoming summer split, and the latest addition is 17-year-old jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma. Inspired previously played for Ultraliga team Rogue Esports Club, which is the developmental academy-styled team in the Rogue organizational heirarchy. Inspired has impressed in his performance with the team, and with Rouge having such a poor start to its time in the LEC, he has been promoted to …
TSM to use both Akaadian and Grig during the 2019 LCS Summer Split
Fariha Bhatti
League of Legends
Team SoloMid has announced that for the 2019 LCS Summer Split both Jonathan “Grig” Armao and Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham will play on the starting roster, splitting time as the team’s primary jungler. At the start of the 2019 season, TSM expected Grig to be the starting jungler for the team with Akaadian playing on the academy team. However, Grig developed a pain in his wrist that got progressively worse, eventually …
SKT T1 Blank signs with Sengoku Gaming for the LJL Summer Split
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1’s jungler Kang “Blank” Sun-gu is joining Sengoku Gaming for the 2019 LJL Summer Split. In an official press release, Sengoku Gaming said the organization was pleased to announce the addition to its League of Legends team. “Blank has been a member of the prestigious team SKT T1 in the past, has much experience winning world championships, and has a world championship skin of his favorite champion. We …
100 Thieves co-owner Dan Gilbert hospitalized for stroke symptoms
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
100 Thieves co-owner Dan Gilbert was recently hospitalized with stroke-related symptoms. Early Sunday morning, the Cleveland Cavaliers owner was checked into the Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital. Being from Detroit, Gilbert’s hospitalization was covered by The Detroit News, who got a statement from Quicken Loans, of which Gilbert is founder and chairman. “He received immediate medical attention and is currently recovering comfortably. Our collective thoughts and prayers are with Dan for …
Cody Sun will be joining Clutch Gaming for the LCS Summer Split
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming mid laner Tanner “Damonte” Damonte revealed that Cody Sun will be the team’s AD carry starting the first week of the LCS Summer Split. “Scrimming with Cody has been great. He’s a very, very good player who also has a great head on his shoulders,” Damonte said in an interview with Travis Gafford. Clutch Gaming has yet to officially announce the signing, although the organization hinted at Cody Sun’s …
Team Liquid owner compares value of esports team with major sports
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
The owner of two prominent NBA and NHL teams has made clear that his esports organization is now more valuable than one of his major sports properties once was. Ted Leonsis is the owner of Team Liquid, the Washington Wizards NBA franchise, and the NHL’s Washington Capitals franchise. Leonsis has recently announced that the Team Liquid esports organization, which covers multiple titles including League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota …
G2 Perkz on Rift Rivals: I could not care any less about Rift Rivals
Fariha Bhatti
News
During a recent live stream, G2 Esports bot laner Luka “Perkz” Perković shared his opinions on the upcoming Rift Rivals tournament he is set to compete in, and it’s fair to say that he’s not excited about it. “Honestly, I could not care any less about Rift Rivals,” Perkz said. “I don’t really think the tournament has [a] place in such stacked season already. I think Riot should remove Rift …
Mobile League of Legends reportedly in the works from Riot, Tencent
Fariha Bhatti
League of Legends
Riot Games and its parent company Tencent Holdings Ltd are working on a mobile version of League of Legends according to a report from Reuters. The report states that while the mobile version of LoL has been in the works for over a year, it still isn’t close to completion and is not expected to launch in 2019. This has supposedly been a long time coming, with Riot reportedly rejecting …
PraY returns from retirement, rejoins KT Rolster in the LCK
Jared Wynne
League of Legends
After a retirement period of just over a month, Kim “PraY” Jong-in has announced that he is set to join KT Rolster and return to the LCK. PraY is set to rejoin teammates Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho, Go “Score” Dong-bin, Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong and No “SnowFlower” Hoi-jong in a move that could see current starting AD Carry Jeon “Zenit” Tae-gwon benched to make way for the veteran player. It is reasonable …
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.
