League of Legends
League of Legends
Jackson Wang releases League of Legends song
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
Was a Cho’Gath rework teased in the new TFT set?
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
New TFT Set 8 Monsters Attack announced
Nicholas James
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
Hans Sama rumored to be joining G2 Esports for the 2023 spring season
Nicholas James
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 …
DRX vs Gen.G Worlds 2022 Pick’Em Semifinal prediction
William Davis
League of Legends
We have the final two teams that are traveling to Atlanta and that means another round of Worlds Pick’Em. The second semi-final between DRX vs Gen.G promises to be a clash for the ages. Three Korean teams and the defending World Champion get seeded into a bracket… So what happens next is peak League of Legends. The series between Gen.G and Damwon Kia will go down in history as one …
What does Jankos leaving G2 mean for the first blood king?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
This week brought the news of accomplished jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski departing the organization he’d been a part of for five years, so what does Jankos leaving G2 mean for him? Rumors emerged earlier in October that Jankos and bot laner Victor “Flakked” Tortosa would be departing G2’s LEC team. The veteran jungler has recently confirmed these reports in a video he posted explaining his departure. So after half a …
Everything we know about Arcane season two and beyond
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Arcane, the hit animated adaptation of League of Legends that was released on Netflix in 2020, is awaiting its next installment. Here’s everything we know for certain about Arcane season 2, and even seasons past that. Arcane’s first season revolved around the twin cities of Piltover and Zaun, and the champions who inhabit them. This first season of Arcane focused on Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn, Jayce, Heimerdinger, Singed, Ekko, Viktor, and …
All of the Preseason 2023 jungle changes
Nicholas James
League of Legends
There are some serious changes coming to the forests of Summoner’s Rift in the near future. Riot Games has specifically called out its intention to make jungling a more beginner-friendly and less punishing role than its current state. From new jungle items to decreased counter-jungling, recommended pathing, and objective voting, the jungle might feel like a totally new place next season. Here are all of the major Preseason 2023 jungle …
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.
League of Legends
League of Legends
League of Legends
League of Legends
