League of Legends
League of Legends
Peanut completes Gen.G roster
William Davis
Gen.G Esports has announced Han “Peanut” Wang-ho as the team’s new jungler. Gen.G is keeping changes to a minimum for the new season, as the team signed Peanut as the new jungler and kept the rest of their existing roster intact. After releasing Lee “Crown” Min-ho, Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong, Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, and Kang “Haru” Min-seung, the team was expected to sign multiple players. Instead, Gen.G is turning to the remaining …
League of Legends
Faker returns as SKT rebuilds roster for 2019
William Davis
Former world championship team SK Telecom T1 announced that star player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is staying with the team. SKT will be full of new faces in 2019. After a mediocre year, the organization appears ready to take over the LCK again. The team released seven players to rebuild the roster around Faker. Kim “Khan” Dong-ha and Kim “Crazy” Jae-hee are the two top laners for SKT. Khan is leaving KINGZONE …
League of Legends
Ucal joins Afreeca Freecs as new mid laner
William Davis
Afreeca Freecs announced Son “Ucal ” Woo-hyeon as the team’s new starting mid laner for 2019. After releasing four members of the team, Afreeca Freecs has started building up its roster. The first addition is young mid laner Ucal. The 17-year-old started his career with KT Rolster as a sub. By the end of 2017, he was promoted to the starting roster. Ucal replaced the experienced Heo “PawN” Won-seok, who had …
League of Legends
Bang and Huhi complete 100 Thieves roster
William Davis
100 Thieves announced its new roster for 2019, including Choi “HuHi” Jae-hyun and Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. The Thieves are getting ready for their latest heist with two new members on the roster. Mid laner Huhi is leaving Counter Logic Gaming after three years and reuniting with former teammate Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black. Bang is venturing into North America for the first time in his career. The bottom laner left SK Telecom T1 after five …
League of Legends
TSM brings in a new coach for 2019
William Davis
Team SoloMid announced former Echo Fox Academy coach Peter Zang as the new head coach for the TSM Academy squad. The Chinese coach is no stranger to the NA LCS, as he worked for Team Liquid as a coach back in 2015, and now he’s is looking to help take TSM back to its former glory. Zang started his career as a coach with LMQ, a Chinese team since disbanded. After a brief …
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 release more than half of League roster
William Davis
SK Telecom T1 have released seven players, including iconic bottom duo Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan and Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. After one of the worst years in the organization’s history, SKT decided to make drastic changes and released seven of ten contracted players. The biggest surprise is the departure of Bang and Wolf, two players that had became synonymous to SKT. Bang and Wolf joined SKT in 2013 and played as a duo …
League of Legends
Pray, Gorilla, Peanut to leave Kingzone Dragonx
William Davis
Kim “PraY” Jong-in, Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon, and Han “Peanut” Wang-ho are leaving KINGZONE DragonX after two years. PraY and GorillA first joined Kingzone in 2016 when the team was called Longzhu Gaming. Peanut followed in 2017 after after a spell with SK Telecom T1. With the three of them in the roster, Kingzone became a favorite for the 2017 World Championship, only to lose in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Samsung …
League of Legends
Flash Wolves lose Maple, SwordArt, and more
William Davis
The biggest League of Legends team in Southeast Asia is about to look very different. Kim “MooJin” Moo-jin, Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang, and Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh are leaving Flash Wolves, while Yu “MMD” Li-Hong is retiring from competitive League of Legends. After a mediocre performance at the 2018 World Championship, the most successful team from the LMS is losing four key players. According to a message on Facebook, the players are …
EU LCS rebrands to LEC, welcomes new teams
William Davis
League of Legends
The EU LCS is rebranding to the League of Legends European Championship, and the league’s ten franchises have now been revealed. Early this year, Riot Games announced that the EU LCS would be transitioning into a franchising system similar to the NA LCS. The developer opened the application process to any organizations looking to become permanent members in the league. As part of the transformation, the league is changing its …
Topsports Gaming lose former world champ Marin
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Topsports Gaming has parted ways with Jang “MaRin” Gyeon-hwan, making the former world champion a free agent. MaRin’s year with TopSports Gaming was a forgettable one. The South Korean top laner came off of a massive contract with LGD Gaming in China and returned home to play for Afreeca Freecs in Season 7. Afreeca remained competitive throughout the year but failed to qualify for the World Championship, and MaRin in …
Comcast in the market for an LCK team
William Davis
League of Legends
American telecommunications conglomerate Comcast is in negotiations to acquire an LCK organization. According to a report by Invenglobal, Comcast held multiple meetings with LCK officials, players, and coaches in October. The conglomerate is looking to seal a deal before November when the transfer market opens in the LCK. Many of Korea’s best and brightest stars in League of Legends are set to enter free agency heading into the new year. …
League of Legends world championship dates announced
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has announced the dates for the upcoming World Championship. In February it was revealed that the biggest League of Legends tournament of the year would be held in South Korea. The tournament kicks off on October 1 with the Play-In Stage, where 12 teams will be competing for the final four slots in the Group Stage. The Play-In Stage will be played at the newly opened LoL Park …
CLG announces Weldon Green as LCS head coach
William Davis
League of Legends
Counter Logic Gaming announced Weldon Green as the team’s new head coach for the upcoming 2019 LCS season. CLG fans will hope that the change will inspire better results in the new year. The storied organization failed to qualify for playoffs in 2018 after finishing seventh in the spring split and eight in the summer. Weldon is taking over the role previously occupied by Tony “Zikz” Gray. In August, the …
Korea and Chinese Taipei Open Asian Games unbeaten
William Davis
News
Day one of League of Legends at the Asian Games finished with Korea and China undefeated through the group stage. For the first time in history, esports was included in the Asian Games Jakarta 2018 as a demonstration sport. The competition features Arena of Valor, Clash Royale, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer, and StarCraft II. In group A of the League of Legends event, China and Kazakhstan started …
Riot Games expanding music department following K/DA debut
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is exploring new avenues of entertainment following the success of their latest musical production. K/DA is a k-pop group created and produced by Riot Games. It features the musical talents of American singers Madison Beer and Jaira Burns, as well as Soyeon and Miyeon of k-pop girl group (G)I-dle. The quartet premiered their inaugural single “POP/STARS” during the World Championship opening ceremony. An animated music video was released …
Riot offers special edition k/da Ahri figure
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has revealed a new special edition K/DA Ahri figure as a part of its recent K/DA promotion. To celebrate the debut of the new K-pop sensation K/DA, Riot Games launched a new merchandise line including a special edition Ahri figure. K/DA made its first appearance at the 2018 World Championship final at the Incheon Munhak Stadium in South Korea. The girl group consists of Evelynn, Kai’Sa, Akali, and …
EG and NiP play wild series in Kuala Lumpur
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Fans that stayed up for day two of the Kuala Lumpur Dota 2 Major playoffs were treated to a big upset. In the first series of the night, Peter “ppd” Dager captained Ninjas In Pyjamas to victory over his former team, Evil Geniuses. The newly formed European squad bested the North American elites 2-1 to advance in the upper bracket. For a time, it seemed as though the series was …
KT and EDG secure spot in World’s quarterfinals
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
The 2018 League of Legends World Championship has been absolutely rocked by upsets throughout the group stage, but Tuesday made for a much more familiar scene. South Korea’s first Seed KT Rolster exited Group C, and China’s EDward Gaming finished behind them. Team Liquid and MAD Team will end their Worlds journeys in groups. While an 0-6 record from MAD Team was disappointing but somewhat expected, Team Liquid’s 3-3 third …
Mastercard Becomes First Global Sponsor for League of Legends
Jared Wynne
League of Legends
Mastercard is now the first global sponsor for League of Legend esports. In a statement on their website, Riot Games announced a multi-year partnership with the international credit card company. Mastercard is no stranger to sponsorships with traditional sporting leagues such as Major League Baseball. With this new sponsorship, Riot Games has taken a big step in advertising in the esports industry. “Mastercard is among the first of world-class brands …
Invictus Gaming win Riot’s World Championship
gabhernandez
League of Legends
The LPL’s Invictus Gaming crushed Fnatic in a 3-0 series to cement themselves in modern League of Legends history as world champions. The series began with IG in the driver’s seat. IG jungler Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning applied early pressure on Fnatic mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther. IG took first blood against Caps and continued to punch down the middle lane. Fnatic’s Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen tried to stem the bleeding with …
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.
