League of Legends
League of Legends
Riot Games takes over Southeast Asia region, ends Garena deal
William Davis
Starting in January 2023, Riot Games will self-publish League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics in the Southeast Asia region. This change puts an end to a 12-year partnership between Riot and Singapore-based developer Garena. Riot is making big moves in the Southeast Asian market that will completely change the experience for players in that region. The countries affected by this change include the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, …
League of Legends
The Worlds 2022 DRX skins will feature these chosen champions
Nicholas James
DragonX made the single greatest miracle run in League of Legends history to win Worlds, and here are the players’ picks for the Worlds 2022 DRX Skins. Riot Games enshrines the winners of each World Championship by giving each player a skin for a champion of their choice. DragonX’s roster announced which champions they’d like to pick for their custom cosmetics, so here are what fans can expect as the …
League of Legends
These K’Sante pro builds are best for the new top laner
Nicholas James
K’Sante, the Pride of Nazumah is the latest champion to join League of Legends, and aspiring players should use these pro builds for K’Sante to excel in the top lane. K’Sante is a unique top lane tank that can flip a switch to isolate enemies and become a skirmishing threat like Fiora or Jax. Here’s how the best players in the world are trying to make the most out of …
League of Legends
Riot Games announces Arcane anniversary event start date
Nicholas James
Arcane, the smash hit animated series adapting League of Legends to film on Netflix, is celebrating its one-year milestone with an Arcane anniversary event running through early November. Arcane first debuted on Netflix on November 6, 2020, with three-episode-long acts released each week for three weeks. Riot Games has announced an Arcane anniversary event that will run from November 8-18 and will include tons of Arcane tie-ins for fans and …
League of Legends
Big changes coming to international LoL esports events in 2023
Nicholas James
Riot Games says big changes are in store for League of Legends esports international events in 2023. Here’s what we know about the changes to international LoL events. At the Worlds 2022 Media Day, Riot Games announced that the form that international LoL events take would be changing in 2023. Here’s what we know for sure about those changes, and what it could likely mean for various regions and leagues. …
League of Legends
Here’s why you can’t see usernames in champion select
Nicholas James
League of Legends is about to get a change that many fans have been asking about for years, and its the reason why you can’t see usernames in champion select. Riot Games has announced that champion select anonymity will be making its way to the League of Legends PBE before making it to the live servers on the subsequent patch. Here’s why Riot is implementing champion select anonymity and why …
League of Legends
Warwick arrives in Wild Rift with new lore details
Nicholas James
Warwick is coming to Wild Rift, and here’s what we know about the Wrath of Zaun’s arrival to the mobile adaptation of League of Legends. Warwick’s impending arrival to Wild Rift was announced in a trailer that seems to fill out a part of Warwick’s story we hadn’t seen before. Here’s everything we know about Warwick in Wild Rift. Warwick is the latest League of Legends champion to join League …
League of Legends
What will the Worlds 2022 skins be?
Nicholas James
DragonX and T1 are facing down in the Worlds 2022 finals on November 5, but what could the eventual winners pick as the Worlds 2022 skins? The winners of the World Championship each year are memorialized by Riot Games with customized skins for the champions of their choice. The main restriction is that the players have to have played the champion that they pick for their skin within the course …
Jackson Wang releases League of Legends song
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Musical Artist Jackson Wang has released a League of Legends song, “Fire to the Fuse,” ahead of his appearance at the Worlds 2022 opening ceremonies. Riot Games has released a new official League of Legends song, written and performed by Hong Kong musician Jackson Wang. The song, titled “Fire to the Fuse,” is being released alongside the Empyrean skin line in League of Legends, but will also be performed at …
Was a Cho’Gath rework teased in the new TFT set?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The new Teamfight Tactics set, Monsters Attack, had a trailer that included a new look for a class LoL champ, is this hinting at a Cho’Gath rework? The new Teamfight Tactics set takes place in the fictional city of Spatulopolis, which is being assaulted by enormous kaiju-inspired monsters. During the trailer, a couple of these monsters are depicted in cutesy drawings, including a peek at Cho’Gath in which the enormous …
New TFT Set 8 Monsters Attack announced
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The next Teamfight Tactics expansion, TFT Set 8, has been announced as “Monsters Attack!” It brings with it traits and mechanics to match the bright ToHo theming of the next auto battler set. Releasing on Patch 12.23, the Monsters Attack expansion will be the next overhaul to Riot Games’ autobattler employing the League of Legends cast of characters to fill its rank. In a video dissecting the new set, lead …
Hans Sama rumored to be joining G2 Esports for the 2023 spring season
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Marksman player Steven “Hans Sama” Liv is rumored to be headed to LEC titan G2 Esports for the 2023 spring season, according to rumors. Hans Sama was part of North American organization Team Liquid’s attempt at building a superteam in 2022, an experiment that failed to materialize any domestic championships or international results. The Team Liquid superteam’s implosion seemed inevitable at the end of the year, and owner Steve Arhancet …
Rework of next LoL champion Rell supposedly leaked ahead of release
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Rell, The Iron Maiden, is one of the next champions in League of Legends to receive a gameplay update, and details of the Rell Rework appear to have leaked on Twitter early. In a series of unconfirmed screenshots posted to Twitter on October 30, 2022, a possible new version of Rell’s kit was revealed. The screenshots were quickly deleted, but many fans think this is the first glimpse at Rell’s …
The best Pick’em prediction for T1 vs DRX at Worlds 2022
William Davis
League of Legends
16 teams started their journey in New York with one goal in mind: to raise the Summoner’s Cup at the Chase Center in San Francisco. After one of the most intense matches in League of Legends’ history, only two teams are flying to the West Coast. Worlds 2022 is coming to an end but there is still one more to go, it is time for T1 vs DRX Worlds 2022 …
Only 8 LoL players left with perfect Pick ‘Ems in Semifinals
Nicholas James
League of Legends
There are only eight players left with perfect Pick ‘Ems as Worlds 2022 enters the semifinals stage. Pick ‘Ems is Riot Games’ yearly fan-oriented pseudo-fantasy game that takes place over the course of Worlds. At each step of the World Championship, fans are given the opportunity to place their guesses on which teams will win and advance at each relevant stage. Fans are rewarded for the accuracy of their Pick …
Artist drops unreleased Worlds song in contract breach
Nicholas James
League of Legends
British artist Simon Rosenfeld has pulled back the curtain on Riot Games’ music production pipeline by dropping an unreleased Worlds song that hadn’t made the cut. A British musical artist has released a song that he claims was meant to be the 2021 Worlds anthem, before being replaced by higher-profile group PVRIS in 2021 and Lil Nas X in 2022. The artist, Simon Rosenfeld, says that he was contacted by …
Riot Forge games Convergence and Song of Nunu delayed to 2023
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Two Riot Forge games have had their release dates pushed back, with Convergence and Song of Nunu delayed until 2023. Riot Forge is the new publishing effort by Riot Games in which branches of the enormous developer act as publishers for other studios’ games set in Riot’s worlds. Previous games from Riot Forge have included Ruined King and Hextech Mayhem. The two next upcoming games, a platformer focused on punk …
Why Deft’s World quarterfinals win is one of LoL’s best moments
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu has competed at League of Legends’ highest level for a decade, but Deft’s Worlds 2022 quarterfinals win against Edward Gaming may be the crowning achievement of an incredible career. Deft’s journey through professional play has been a story of individual greatness, falling short of past pinnacles, and the price of true dedication. Worlds 2022 may be the final time that Deft steps onto the international stage, with …
RNG rumored to be looking to sell after money troubles
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Massive Chinese esports organization Royal Never Give Up, or RNG, is rumored to be looking to sell the brand and its LPL slot, according to reports. Reports emerged earlier this week that suggested that Chinese esports titan RNG was looking to sell the organization to new ownership, along with its LPL slot. According to reports, TikTok owner Bytedance is in consideration to acquire the organization. Rumors emerged on October 25, …
How to play K’Sante top lane and jungle in League of Legends
Nicholas James
League of Legends
K’Sante is the latest champion to join League of Legends, here’s how to play K’sante in top lane and jungle. K’Sante is a juggernaut with unprecedented displacement, a pair of unique Ntofos, and the ability to trade durability for damage and take the fight to his opponents. From abilities to items to runes, here’s the best way to play K’Sante in top lane and jungle. K’Sante has a rare type …
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.
