League of Legends
League of Legends
The Worlds 2022 finals may be the peak of League of Legends
Nicholas James
League of Legends’ World Championship has been running for 11 years, and it may have reached its pinnacle with the 2022 Worlds grand finals. DRX’s upset victory against titan T1 has already cemented itself as one of the greatest best-of-five series ever played, but the tournament that led up to it will stand the test of time as the best that League of Legends will ever get. Looking back at …
League of Legends
Big changes for the ARAM map are coming in patch 12.23
William Davis
The League of Legends off-season has started, and Riot Games has announced updates coming to ARAM including drastic changes to the map. Summoner’s Rift is not the only venue getting changes over the off-season. Howling Abyss is looking different starting in patch 12.22. The changes are divided into three categories affecting runes, champions, and the map. ARAM is a permanent game modes in League of Legends battling on a single-lane …
League of Legends
Arcane launches crossover with Just Dance 2023
Nicholas James
The Just Dance games are going on a journey to Runeterra as a new collaboration between Arcane and Just Dance has been announced. Just Dance is a series of movement games in which the player follows a glowing neon example to dance along to classic and contemporary songs. The long-running franchise recently announced an upcoming collaboration with Arcane, the animated adaptation of League of Legends’ story that released on Netflix …
League of Legends
The League of Legends ranked season just ended a day early
Nicholas James
A bug has struck the North American servers for League of Legends, ending the Season 12 ranked season almost 20 hours ahead of schedule. The League of Legends ranked season was meant to end at the very end of the day on November 14, 2022. However, the North American ranked servers went down early in the morning, preventing players from getting their last chance to rank up. The end of …
League of Legends
Popular YouTuber Mr Beast is looking to buy the best LCS team
Nicholas James
Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson has doubled down on previous statements, saying on the Worlds 2022 broadcast that buying an LCS team was a matter of when not if. Mr. Beast has been outspoken about his love for League of Legends and its esports scene in. He’s mentioned in passing that he might like to one day purchase an LCS organization’s slot and have his very own League of Legends team. …
League of Legends
LoL fans angry after secret Arcane event is a $170 figure
Nicholas James
A secretive Arcane event celebrating the animated series was revealed to be a $170 figurine inspired by the series, and fans are disappointed to say the least. Riot Games announced an Arcane anniversary event happening over the course of several weeks starting on November 8 with a Reddit AMA featuring Arcane creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee. One event on November 9 was kept secret, and many fans were expecting …
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 …
These K’Sante pro builds are best for the new top laner
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
Riot Games announces Arcane anniversary event start date
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
Rekkles opens up on bad G2 contract and playing support
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Carl Martin “Rekkles” Erik Larsson recently went on stream to discuss his status following his departure from Karmine Corp in the LFL, expressing significant unhappiness with the G2 contract he had signed in 2021. Rekkles was one of Europe’s most prominent League of Legends talents, with the marksman player headlining Fnatic’s roster for many years before taking an unexpected pivot to join G2 Esports in 2021. G2 never found the …
DRX wins Worlds 2022, Deft’s last dance is victorious
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The grand finals are over and the one true victor stands above all the fallen teams, as DragonX wins Worlds 2022. This year’s finals were a hard-fought battle between historical titan T1 and the miracle run underdog of DragonX. Both teams had incredible stories heading into their finals appearance, but it was DRX that took home the Summoner’s Cup in the last five-game series of the year. The Unkillable Demon …
Why is Mr. Beast at the Worlds 2022 finals?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Massive YouTuber and content creator Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson has been announced to be joining the English language broadcasting desk at the Worlds 2022 grand finals. Mr. Beast has long been known to love League of Legends and its esports scene, but this appearance is his first time officially overlapping with Riot Games. He’ll be making an appearance on the Worlds 2022 Finals broadcast before the games start, with opening …
Big changes coming to international LoL esports events in 2023
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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. …
Here’s why you can’t see usernames in champion select
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
Warwick arrives in Wild Rift with new lore details
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
What will the Worlds 2022 skins be?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
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.
