League of Legends
League of Legends
How to get unlimited free Riot Points for LoL with Microsoft
Nicholas James
League of Legends has announced a way to earn unlimited Riot Points with Microsoft Rewards. League of Legends has been expanding ways for fans to obtain more cosmetic and exclusive rewards without having to pull out their wallets. Some options, like in-game chests and capsules, can be collected by just playing the game. Others, like Twitch’s Prime Gaming rewards, offer free rewards with a third-party subscription or service. This latest …
League of Legends
What to expect from Ruination, the first League of Legends novel
Nicholas James
The first full League of Legends novel, titled “Ruination,” is making its way to bookshelves later this year. The novel will revolve around the Ruination world event that took place in 2021, hoping to redeem a narrative that originally drew a mixed reception from fans. Divergent versions of the story made it hard for fans to follow a cohesive narrative, and complaints about tonal mismatch and confusing narrative choices were …
League of Legends
LEC reveals the 2022 Spring All-Pro teams
William Davis
The 2022 LEC Spring Split will soon enter its playoff stage, but before that happens the three LEC All-Pro team rosters have been revealed. Just like previous splits, three All-Pro teams have been decided based on votes from players, coaches, casters, and other prominent figures within the LEC scene. These votes have laid the ground for the first All-Pro team, which crowns the best player in each role throughout the …
League of Legends
How to fix the new LoL bug that says you’re permanently banned
Nicholas James
There’s a new League of Legends bug that is telling players their accounts have been permanently banned. Here’s how to fix it. Riot Games’ League of Legends client is no stranger to a variety of bugs and unintended interactions. The latest of these is informing innocent players that their accounts have been permanently banned. This isn’t actually the case for most, and the solution is a simple fix that won’t …
League of Legends
Why did TSM terminate its LCS coach Peter Zhang mid-season?
Nicholas James
TSM’s head coach for League of Legends has been fired following the discovery of a conflict of interest, according to a statement made by the esports organization. TSM LCS head coach Peter Zhang has been terminated from the organization following what the organization describes as serious allegations of conflict of interest and unethical practices. The TSM head coach was terminated on March 18, with the announcement on Twitter referencing vague …
League of Legends
Team Liquid vs. FlyQuest 2022 LCS Spring betting analysis
William Davis
Team Liquid will be looking to chase first place in the 2022 LCS Spring Split once again, but to have a chance it will have to beat FlyQuest. After losing to Cloud9 last week, Liquid lost possession of first place in the standings and will now look to bounce back against one of the big surprises so far this split in FlyQuest. Despite lowered expectations from fans and experts going …
League of Legends
Everything you need to know about Viktor from Arcane and LoL
Nicholas James
Viktor the Machine Herald has taken center stage after the animated adaptation of League of Legends, Arcane, hit Netflix in a big way. Viktor was born and raised in the slums of Zaun, the lower portion of Piltover coated in the toxic smog known as the “Zaun Grey.” Here’s everything you need to know about Viktor, League of Legends’ hardest-working Zaunite academic turned augmented mastermind. When viewers first meet Viktor …
League of Legends
What went wrong for MAD Lions in the LEC Spring Split?
Nicholas James
MAD Lions’ performance in the 2022 LEC Spring Split was anything but what the organization had hoped for, so what happened to the team? MAD Lions were a shock arrival to tier-one League of Legends in 2021, winning both splits with players that were much less experienced than those of top teams from recent years. But in 2022’s first half the team failed to live up to the expectations that …
Who is Doublelift? North America’s most famous ADC
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Peng “Doublelift” Yilang is one of the icons of North American League of Legends. But who is the veteran League of Legends pro and how did he get so popular? Doublelift is a retired professional League of Legends player who competed in the LCS, short for the North American LoL league. He was one of the earliest professional players in the scene, playing for years as one of the best …
Immortals vs. 100 Thieves: 2022 LCS Spring betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The seventh week of the 2022 LCS Spring Split kicks off with a match between Immortals and 100 Thieves, a team chasing the top seeds in the league ahead of playoffs. To keep the momentum rolling, 100 Thieves will have to take down Immortals, which has been struggling in recent weeks. Immortals will enter this match with five losses in a row, placing them at ninth place in the league …
Svenskeren might soon be playing for C9 again, and here’s why
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen has joined Cloud9 in the LCS as a substitute jungler, and fans might soon see C9 Svenskeren on the LCS stage once again. Svenskeren was one of many promising pro players who found themselves without a team coming into the 2022 LCS Spring Split. Cloud9 has picked up the free agent following his time spent on Evil Geniuses, which ended in early 2022 when he and teammate …
Streamer reaches Master rank in LoL in 60 hours with no sleep
Nicholas James
League of Legends
A Brazilian streamer has reached Master by grinding for 60 hours non-stop with absolutely no sleep that entire time. Brazilian Jax player and streamer Nicklink is not the first to attempt an unranked to Master or Challenger rank challenge. But most content creators treat this journey as a marathon rather than a sprint, with the climb to the highest ranks taking weeks on average. Nicklink decided to speedrun the ranked …
Why there could soon be more League of Legends shows like Arcane
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games has acquired a large portion of equity in the creator of hit Netflix show Arcane, Fortiche Production. Does that mean that more League of Legends shows are soon to be on the way? Arcane was an absolute smash hit for Riot Games, which has carefully been expanding its presence into more traditional media areas. From topping music charts with projects like K-Pop band KDA, to its hit Netflix …
This is why Cloud9 is the 2022 LCS Spring Split playoff favorite
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2022 LCS Spring Split is shaping up to be extremely close between league leaders Cloud9 and Team Liquid, but it seems that one of the two teams has gotten the edge. This edge goes to C9 after it took down Liquid in the most anticipated game of the week. This wasn’t just a game between two of the split favorites, but also a direct battle for first place. It …
These teams are locked into the 2022 LCK Spring playoffs
William Davis
League of Legends
The end of the 2022 LCK Spring Split is getting close as the 10 South Korean teams only have one week of games remaining before the playoffs. Moving into the ninth and final week, four teams have already secured a spot in the playoffs while the two last spots are still up for grabs. These last spots are chased by three teams who can still make it in, and the …
Everything we know about 2022’s secret VGU in League of Legends
Nicholas James
League of Legends
There’s a secret League of Legends VGU waiting in the wings for later in 2022, here’s what we know about it. Riot Games has been committing to updating and modernizing the looks of some of their older champions each year in League of Legends, one publicly voted on from the last year and the other decided internally. There’s not yet been any mention of exactly what 2022’s Visual Gameplay Update …
Champion select reports will finally matter, says Riot Games
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Champion select reports were a long-requested feature by fans of League of Legends, but their initial implementation has had mixed results. According to a statement by Riot Games, new punishments and systems to address champion select reports and make them more impactful are imminent. What might these changes entail and how will they make them matter? Champion select reports have already been implemented in League of Legends, but for the …
Excel Markoon talks playing with Mikyx, making the LEC playoffs
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Excel jungler Mark “Markoon” van Woensel took time to chat with WIN.gg about the team’s playoffs hopes, mid-split changes, and Markoon’s view on the state of the game today. This interview took place after Excel’s game against G2 Esports, and Excel qualified for the LEC spring playoffs the next day. You’re fresh off a loss to G2, but you’re nearing Excel’s first playoff qualification. How does it feel to be …
Team Liquid vs. Cloud9: 2022 LCS Spring betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The battle for first place is tight in the 2022 LCS Spring Split, and this match between Team Liquid and Cloud9 might settle a few things. To close out the sixth week of the split, the two top teams will face off for the second time this split. The squads are currently tied at the top of the standings with 9-2 records, but only one of them will remain at …
Faker calls out pro player for inting and gets them punished
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Top Esports top laner Yu “Qingtian” Zi-Han has been fined one month’s salary after he was found to be purposely feeding the enemy team while solo queuing in ranked play. On March 9, iconic Leauge of Legends player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was streaming a ranked game when Qingtian began acting toxic. During the game, Qingtian was ignoring his teammates, playing poorly on purpose, and repeatedly trying to end the game …
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.
