League of Legends
League of Legends
Only 8 LoL players left with perfect Pick ‘Ems in Semifinals
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
Artist drops unreleased Worlds song in contract breach
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
Riot Forge games Convergence and Song of Nunu delayed to 2023
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
Why Deft’s World quarterfinals win is one of LoL’s best moments
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
What does Jankos leaving G2 mean for the first blood king?
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
Everything we know about Arcane season two and beyond
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
All of the Preseason 2023 jungle changes
Nicholas James
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
JDG vs T1 Worlds 2022 Semifinal Pick’Em prediction
William Davis
It is time, once again, for Pick’Ems at Worlds 2022. The first half of the bracket is completed and now we know who will be competing in the first semifinals. JDG and T1 will be meeting again in the next stage of the tournament, for a match that could decide the champion of Worlds 2022. JDG’s performance against Rogue was exactly what the audience expected from the LPL champion. The …
Where to check if League of Legends is down
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has a total of eleven servers around the world dedicated to League of Legends. Outages happen, so here is how to check if League of Legends is down in your region. Total server outages are rare but still happen. Sometimes, part of the server gets disabled. For example, EUW could disable Solo Queue for a period of time while fixing an error, or a server shut down every …
Why the Worlds 2022 Pass is a bad deal for LoL players
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The Worlds 2022 Pass has come under community criticism for offering League of Legends players little value at a high price. The Worlds 2022 Pass is the premium battle pass for League of Legends players that runs during the course of the Worlds 2022 tournament. Some rewards are free, but the paid version unlocks more event-specific currency for the same progression, and it’s this premium version that has been subject …
League of Legends auto-mute feature added
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games has taken a proactive step to combat toxicity in their MOBA, adding a League of Legends auto-mute future that stops disruptive chatting before it reaches the screen. A new behavioral system update was added in patch 12.20 that has many players praising Riot for taking real steps to combat toxicity. Unlike champion select and in-game reports, this new system stops toxic players’ messages from being displayed by filtering …
Jankos and Flakked are rumored to be leaving G2 for 2023 LEC
Tokoni Uti
League of Legends
Jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski and bot laner Victor “Flakked” Lirola Tortosa may be leaving G2 Esports after a combined six years on the team. Both Jankos and Flakked are rumored to be leaving G2 Esports and will be replaced heading into 2023. The pair are allowed to seek other opportunities as the organization looks to shake up the roster after crashing out at the World Championship group stage. The news …
Aurelion Sol rework release date delayed until 2023
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The Aurelion Sol rework release date has been delayed until 2023, according to a Riot Games employee working on the project. Aurelion Sol is the next champion to receive a major gameplay update in League of Legends. His unusual playstyle has led to a low play rate, so Riot Games is giving him brand-new abilities without touching his iconic character and appearance. The update was originally slated for a late …
Riot Games reveals the inspiration behind K’Sante’s design
Nicholas James
League of Legends
K’Sante, the Pride of Nazumah is the flashy new tank set to be the latest champion to join League of Legends, and Riot Games has revealed how it came up with K’Sante’s unique design. This latest League of Legends champion brings a brand new region to the game alongside spectacular new weapons and abilities the likes of which Summoner’s Rift has never seen. Thanks to Riot Games’ behind-the-scenes glimpses in …
New Lil Nas X Empyrean K’Sante prestige skin revealed
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Musical artist Lil Nas X has released a new entry in an ongoing collaboration with Riot Games around League of Legends, promoting the brand new Empyrean K’Sante prestige skin that was designed with his help. Lil Nas X has been collaborating with Riot Games for the 2022 world championship, authoring the Worlds anthem “Star Walkin'” and several promotional videos. The latest of these is an early tease of the freshly …
The best Pick’Ems for Worlds 2022 quaterfinals
William Davis
League of Legends
The League of Legends Worlds 2022 Group Stage has ended and the top eight teams in the world have been decided. So, it’s time once again for Worlds Pick ’em, as we move to the playoffs. After eight days of solid competition in New York City, eight teams are advancing to the quarterfinals. Groups had it all, surprising comebacks, upsets, outstanding performances, and more than one Baron steal. Now, teams …
Here’s a full Arcane character list of all the champions
Nicholas James
League of Legends
There’s wide variety of characters depicted in the League of Legends animated adaptation, here’s a full Arcane character list for every champion in it. There are plenty of characters unique to Arcane, but there are also many that fans can recognize from Riot Games’ wildly successful MOBA, League of Legends. From the obvious characters to hidden origin stories, here are all the champions in Arcane and how they play in …
Faker breaks record for most kills at LoL Worlds at over 350
William Davis
League of Legends
T1 midlaner Lee “Faker” Sang- hyeok broke the record for the most kills at Worlds 2022. Faker and T1 are celebrating more than their first place in Group A of Worlds 2022. At this year’s event, Faker became the first League of Legends player to compete in 100 Worlds games. Faker ends the group stage with 103 matches played at Worlds and 75 victories. The mid laner is having an …
New champion K’Sante, the Pride of Nazumah leaked
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The newest champion, K’Sante, Pride of Nazumah has leaked thanks to a Chinese Bilibili video that appeared on October 13, 2022. K’Sante, the Pride of Nazumah is the next champion coming to League of Legends, a flashy tank from a brand new subregion of Shurima, but he’s not the first to be leaked ahead of schedule. K’Sante was announced in the 2023 Preseason preview video from Riot Games and fans …
100 champions contested at LoL Worlds 2022, a new record
Tokoni Uti
League of Legends
The number of unique champions contested at League of Legends Worlds has reached 100 for the first time in the game’s history in 2022. DWG KIA top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon opted for a Jayce pick in his side’s group stage match against North America’s Evil Geniuses and this became the 100th champion to be either picked or banned so far in the tournament across both the Play-In stage and …
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
Hans Sama rumored to be joining G2 Esports for the 2023 spring season
By
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Rework of next LoL champion Rell supposedly leaked ahead of release
By
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The best Pick’em prediction for T1 vs DRX at Worlds 2022
By
William Davis
