League of Legends
League of Legends
Jensen leads Liquid over former Cloud9 teammates
Olivia Richman
Team Liquid’s win over Cloud9 in the first game of the 2019 LCS season was a bit more personal this time around. Liquid’s newly acquired mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen showed no signs of holding back against his old teammates. His loyalty to Liquid was made clear at the start of the match as he chased down and killed his replacement at Cloud9, Yasin “Nisqy” Dincer. Jensen and the rest of …
League of Legends
Prestige skins in League of Legends spur backlash
gabhernandez
Some League of Legends fans and players are none too happy about the reintroduction of Prestige skins to the game. The Prestige line of skins was first seen with Prestige K/DA Kai’Sa. After its relatively welcome reception, Riot added a Prestige K/DA Akali skin to the mix. Riot had since announced the continuation of the Prestige skin line, with different means of obtaining the skins to be offered. As opposed …
News
Pro League team to train at one of Europe’s biggest stadiums
William Davis
ExceL Esports has announced Twickenham Stadium as the location for its training facility in 2019. ExceL is making big moves in 2019, as the organization that was recently chosen to compete in the LEC, formerly known as the EU LCS. The fourth-largest European stadium is located in southwest London. With a seating capacity of 82,000, the location will be opening its doors to esports competitors for the first time. The ExceL …
League of Legends
Twitch Rivals is Riot’s next step in supporting entertainers
gabhernandez
Continuing an ongoing trend of renewed community outreach, Riot Games has launched the Twitch Rivals tournament, a contest featuring some of League of Legends’ most beloved personalities as they compete for a $75,000 prize pool. The event will feature a bracket of 16 teams competing in best-of-three series play, with each game using “blind pick” rules, allowing one-trick players to use their signature champions without fear of bans. Famed content …
League of Legends
Sales and store changes coming to League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends is implementing an overhaul to the way sales and discounts will function in 2019. Along with all the big changes coming to ranked play in the new year, Riot Games is revamping the League of Legends shop. The game’s developer will be focusing on popular elements such as the “Your Shop” feature, event passes, and the Essence Emporium. Some aspects of the existing discount system may then …
League of Legends
Upcoming Korean team Griffin wins KeSPA Cup
William Davis
One of Korea’s youngest pro League of Legends teams defeated defeated a former World Championship team to win the KeSPA Cup. Griffin swept Gen.G to capture the squad’s first major trophy. The annual tournament finals took place on New Year’s Eve at the Sejong University Convention Hall in Seoul. Griffin took the LCK by storm in the summer split of 2018, finishing in second place. The team failed to qualify …
News
Invictus Gaming close year with another title
William Davis
Reigning world champion Invictus Gaming closed 2018 with a win at the Demacia Cup, defeating Topsports Gaming in four games. Despite its struggle to earn an LPL title, IG closed its year with a domestic victory under its belt. The road to the finals was not easy for the champions. In the fourth round, IG was upset by TOP and was forced to play in the loser’s bracket against Suning. …
League of Legends
K/DA pop stars come to rhythm game Beat Saber
William Davis
Riot Games is teaming up with Beat Games to bring K/DA – POP/STARS to VR rhythm game Beat Saber. The reception to League of Legend’s new k-pop girl group has been overwhelming. Waves of fanart and cosplays followed the band’s debut, and the K/DA-themed skin set was so popular that Riot released a prestige version for Akali. One particularly popular piece of fan content was an unofficially produced level for …
SK Telecom T1’s new roster has mixed debut in Korea
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 debuted its new roster with two wins before falling out of the KeSPA Cup 2018. SK Telecom T1 has long been one of the world’s most popular teams in League of Legends. The organization debuted its new roster with two clean victories in the KeSPA Cup 2018, beginning with a take down of APK Prince from Challengers Korea. APK Prince focused most of its attention in the …
Here’s where Riot’s next three World Championships will be
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has revealed the destinations for the next three League of Legends World Championship events. After facing criticism in 2018 due to the delay in sharing the World Championship dates and locations, Riot has announce in advance the venues for the next three World Championship. 2019 – Europe After four years, the world’s biggest League of Legends competition returns to the old continent. Europe will host the game’s most …
Riot and Marvel partner for new Ashe comic book series
gabhernandez
League of Legends
Riot Games has partnered with Marvel Comics to produce an official League of Legends graphic novel. The first issue of Ashe: Warmonger released online December 19, with physical copies to be made available for purchase in May of 2019. The series is written by Odin Austin Shafer and illustrated by Nina Vakueva The story depicts the lore behind Ashe, one of League of Legends’ champion original champions and a frequent …
World champion jungler Ambition retires from pro play
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Jungler Kang “Ambition” Chan-Yong has retired from professional League of Legends. The Korean player announced the move on a personal stream on Twitch, saying that he was hanging up his gloves rather than looking for a new home for the 2019 season. “It’s retirement,” Ambition said. “I have settled on retirement. I am so sorry and grateful.” He went on to clarify that this was not prompted by plans to …
SandBox Network acquires new LCK team
William Davis
League of Legends
SandBox Network will enter the biggest League of Legends stage in Korea after acquiring the roster and LCK spot of Team BattleComics. Team BattleComics earned its spot after defeating MVP in the LCK 2019 Spring Promotion series. The team was founded in 2017 and started competing in Challengers Korea during the 2017 spring split. The roster has now been acquired by SandBox, giving the team new official backing. SandBox Network …
A world champion hopes to elevate OpTic in 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
OpTic Gaming are hoping that a former world champion can help the team turn over a new leaf in the LCS. OpTic announced the signing of former world champion Lee “Crown” Min-ho, where he’ll join recent acquisitionsWilliam “Meteos” Hartman and Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett. After an underwhelming year, OpTic Gaming is making big moves. The team announced Crown as the new starting mid laner for the 2019 season. Crown won the …
PowerOfEvil and Wiggily lead CLG’s rebound charge
gabhernandez
League of Legends
Counter Logic Gaming is looking to shake things up after failing to make playoffs in both the spring and summer splits of 2018. CLG’s biggest offseason change is the acquisition of Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage in the mid lane. PowerOfEvil made his name in the EU LCS during his time on Misfits. One of his biggest achievements came during the 2017 World Championship, where PowerOfEvil led his team to take SK …
Riot Games COO suspended for workplace harassment
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games COO Scott Gelb has received a two-month unpaid suspension following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior. Gelb has become a controversial figure at Riot Games over the past few months. Several former and current Riot employees have recently alleged that Gelb has repeatedly farted on, humped, and and appropriately touched fellow employees for comedic effect. An investigation by a third-party law firm began earlier this year …
Origen reloads for return to top European competition
William Davis
League of Legends
Origen is returning to the LEC in 2019 with a roster full of European stars. Spanish organization Origen is back in the LEC. The team and brand were acquired by Astralis’ parent company RFRSH Entertainment in November. After having fallen out of the top tier of European competition in 2016, the team is again ready to compete at the top. Barney “Alphari” Morris is taking over the top lane. Alphari …
TSM hopes to rebound with Broken Blade and Smoothie
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid will look to recapture past glory with new members Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik and Andy “Smoothie” Ta. TSM is making big changes heading into 2019 in the LCS. After a mediocre year, the organization is hoping to reclaim their place as the most successful team in North America. Top laner Broken Blade previously played with Turkish side Royal Bandits. The team was a frequent contender in the TCL, …
Nisqy signing shows Cloud9’s roster building commitment
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 is hoping that a new European mid laner will prove the perfect replacement for Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen. Cloud9 surprised fans when the organization announced that Jensen would be leaving the team to join Team Liquid. Jensen joined Cloud9 in 2015 and was considered one of the star players for the team. In his place, the squad will bring on Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer. Nisqy is returning to North America after …
Golden Guardians retool with Hauntzer, Froggen, Olleh
gabhernandez
League of Legends
Golden Guardians have undergone a promising roster overhaul after taking last place in both splits of the 2018 season. In the top lane, the Guardians picked up Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell from TSM. Hauntzer was well known for his dominance as a native top laner against top lane imports such as Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon. Hauntzer’s skill proved itself out even among star teammates like Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. Unfortunately, …
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.
