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Faker is here to tell you whether to use the F or D key for Flash League of Legends Faker is here to tell you whether to use the F or D key for Flash By Olivia Richman Valorant to use unique anti-cheat, new Vanguard system to fight hacks Counter-Strike Valorant to use unique anti-cheat, new Vanguard system to fight hacks By Steven Rondina Doublelift benched from LCS by Team Liquid due to motivation League of Legends Doublelift benched from LCS by Team Liquid due to motivation By William Davis
Riot says smurfing in League of Legends “ruins the game,” to be fixed League of Legends
Riot says smurfing in League of Legends “ruins the game,” to be fixed Olivia Richman Riot took to Twitter to address how the past two competitive seasons have seemed to be a slower climb than ever before for many players.  “This is intentional. We really don’t want players creating alt accounts just to blow through the climb. We encourage players to stay on their mains. Smurfing ruins the game experience for others,” Riot tweeted.  Smurfing, a practice in which a highly ranked player creates a …
Pobelter is returning to the LCS in the mid lane for CLG League of Legends
Pobelter is returning to the LCS in the mid lane for CLG Olivia Richman After spending the first half of the LCS Spring Split in 10th place, Counter Logic Gaming have decided to make a big change to their roster.  This weekend, get ready to see Eugene “Pobelter” Park on the LCS Arena stage as CLG’s starting mid laner. The veteran mid laner will be replacing Lee “Crown” Min-ho, who curently has the most deaths and the lowest KDA of any mid laner in the …
After 2 weeks, LCS Monday Night League is a viewership flop League of Legends
After 2 weeks, LCS Monday Night League is a viewership flop Olivia Richman The League of Legends Championship Series’ Monday Night League concept appears to be a flop.  The LCS introduced a new schedule for the 2020 LCS Spring Split, with each week of the LCS now taking place across Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Adding that extra day was meant to attract new audiences, but it seems to be having the opposite effect. Despite featuring some pretty big matches, including Team Liquid vs. Team …
G2 Esports vs. Origen breaks viewership record for LEC splits News
G2 Esports vs. Origen breaks viewership record for LEC splits Syed Mujtaba Naqvi The second weekend of the 2020 LEC Spring Split produced one of the most-watched matches in European League of Legends history. G2 Esports’ dominant performance over Origen attracted a record number of viewers to their screens. After failing to reach last year’s numbers on debut day, the LEC enjoyed a significant uptick in viewership in week two. This is especially true for last weekend’s match between OG and G2, as fans tuned …
Riot is testing different League of Legends shops in LoL client League of Legends Riot is testing different League of Legends shops in LoL client By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi The 12 regions of Runeterra and their place in League of Legends lore League of Legends The 12 regions of Runeterra and their place in League of Legends lore By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi These are the best League of Legends skins from 2019 League of Legends These are the best League of Legends skins from 2019 By William Davis
Uzi injuries may force retirement as RNG battles at Demacia Cup League of Legends
Uzi injuries may force retirement as RNG battles at Demacia Cup William Davis The future of Royal Never Give Up and its biggest star AD carry Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao is uncertain, as according to different sources the player might not be able to play in 2020. Uzi might miss the LPL 2020 Spring Split and possibly the rest of the year. According to former RNG jungler Liu “Mlxg” Shi-Yu, the results of Uzi’s last medical examination are not as hopeful as the team …
Time Magazine says League of Legends is one of decade’s best games League of Legends
Time Magazine says League of Legends is one of decade’s best games M Alzamora Riot Game’s MOBA has made Time Magazine’s list of the “10 Best Video Games of the 2010’s,” cementing its place as one of the best and most popular games of the decade. League of Legends joined nine other video games on the list published by Time Magazine. League of Legends and Epic Game’s Fortnite were the only two multiplayer games on a list dominated by single-player titles. While Riot’s flagship …
Doinb becomes the first import player to become LPL resident League of Legends
Doinb becomes the first import player to become LPL resident William Davis FunPlus Phoenix mid laner and reigning world champion Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang has become the first foreign player to receive LPL residency. After five years competing in China, Doinb was granted LPL residency and will no longer count as an import for the team. Doinb, who is originally from South Korea, was a popular solo queue player who has received high praise from professional players including T1 mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. …
Louis Vuitton launches League of Legends collection, sells out League of Legends
Louis Vuitton launches League of Legends collection, sells out Syed Mujtaba Naqvi World famous fashion brand Louis Vuitton launched a clothing collection in collaboration with League of Legends. The merchandise sold out in Europe within an hour after its launch. The collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Riot Games isn’t anything new. The new collection is rather another product of the partnership. The two organizations started working together for the 2019 World Championship, where Louis Vuitton designed a case for the Summoner’s Cup …
Golden Guardians Academy adds former LPL caster Raz as coach William Davis League of Legends LPL commentator and League of Legends personality Barento “Raz” Mohammed has made a surprising move and joined Golden Guardians Academy as head coach. Golden Guardians announced the complete GGS Academy roster and coaching staff ahead of the LCS 2020 season. The coaching staff includes former LPL analyst Raz, who worked in the LPL’s English broadcast for the past few years. Raz follows the steps of former LCK caster Christopher “PapaSmithy” …
KT Rolster Aiming admits to relationship with underage fan Jared Wynne League of Legends KT Rolster’s bottom laner Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram has issued an apology after it surfaced that he was in an intimate relationship with a fan who was a minor. The information came out after Aiming decided to put an end to the relationship so that he could focus on the upcoming season. Aiming confirmed that instead of having a conversation regarding the decision, he cut off communications completely without an explanation. …
Xmithie rejoins Immortals after being dropped by Team Liquid William Davis League of Legends Immortals has announced the first member of its 2020 team and it’s a blast from the past. Jake “Xmithie” Puchero is rejoining his former organization. The North American jungler was part of the team in the 2017 NA LCS Summer Split. With Xmithie on its roster, Immortals finished in second place that split and went to compete in the 2017 League of Legends World Championship. “Among all the LCS players Jake …
SK Telecom T1 extends Faker’s contract through 2021 Olivia Richman League of Legends As the majority of SK Telecom T1’s roster face expiring contracts, the Korean team has extended Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s contract to 2021.  While Faker’s new salary with the contract hasn’t been made public, it’s been rumored that his base salary last year was $2.5 million, making him one of the highest paid esports players of all time.  League of Legends fans speculated that Faker would be leaving SKT during last …
Hans Sama joins Rogue, extends Vander’s contract two years Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends Former Misfits Gaming bot laner Steven “Hans Sama” Liv is joining Rogue for the 2020 season. The organization has also secured the services of Oskar “Vander” Bogdan’s for the next two years. ESPN’s Jacob Wolf shared the news regarding Rogue’s 2020 League of Legends European Championship roster. Rogue quickly confirmed the news on Twitter, sharing a video announcing Vander’s re-signing and teasing Han Sama as the new addition towards the …
2019 Esports Awards winners include Team Liquid, Mini Ladd Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends The annual Esports Awards saw many personalities from across the industry walk the red carpet.  The event is always a hot topic of conversation and this year was no different as some of the most popular teams and personalities in both esports and gaming had their work honored. Though the event saw fans of nominees that didn’t win frustrated in some cases, it’s worth taking a look at who came …
Top stats from the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends The 2019 League of Legends World Championship culminated last weekend with FunPlus Phoenix taking the crown. In about a month from the group stage’s beginnings to finals, 16 teams competed on the Worlds stage. Some players were more dominant than others in terms of in-game statistics. Some had high kill/death/assist ratios just because they played only a few games, but overall, FPX and Griffin dominated across all aspects. Although it’s C9 …
FunPlus Phoenix share picks for 2019 World Champion skins Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends As the winner of the League of Legends 2019 World Championship, FunPlus Phoenix picked champions that will receive the new World Champion skins. Beyond the trophy and a cash prize, winners of League’s Worlds championships get their own set of in-game skins. Players get to choose champions they wish the skins to be designed for, under the condition they played that champion during the main event. Often the champions picked …
Worlds 2019 finals breaks Twitch viewing record, beats Fortnite Olivia Richman League of Legends Although some viewers around the world might have needed some extra coffee to wake up or stay up and watch the World Championship over the weekend, the last weekend of Worlds still managed to break Twitch’s record for all-time peak concurrent viewers.  The finals had 1.7 million viewers on Twitch alone, which beat the previous record by 100,000. With this, League of Legends has surpassed Dota 2 and Fortnite as …
FunPlus Phoenix trounce G2 Esports, win LoL Worlds 2019 finals William Davis League of Legends LPL representative FunPlus Phoenix is the 2019 World Champion. FunPlus took down G2 Esports with a clean 3-0 victory in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals to keep the Summoner’s Cup in China for another year. The LPL has now won back-to-back World Championships and solidified itself as the strongest region in the world. Heading into the finals, FunPlus was considered the underdog. The team had a shaky …
China implements strict online video game curfew for minors Olivia Richman League of Legends Ever since the World Health Organization deemed video game addiction real, some countries have been scrambling to find a solution. Earlier today, China announced that minors will now have a curfew when it comes to online gaming.  The “Notice from Preventing Minors from Indulging in Online Games” outlines six initiatives for fighting gaming addiction in China. The rules state that anyone under the age of 18 will be banned from …
G2 Esports earn spot in LoL Worlds 2019 finals by beating SKT William Davis League of Legends G2 Esports has the Summoner’s Cup within reach. The LEC champion took a decisive victory over SK Telecom T1 in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. In the second match of the semifinals, G2 managed to repeatedly dig their way out of holes to earn their spot in the grand finals in Paris.  The series was a hotly competitive one, with both teams posting some of their best performances …

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.