League of Legends
League of Legends
JD Gaming signs Hope as its new bot laner for 2022 LPL
William Davis
JD Gaming has completed its 2022 LPL roster after signing former EDward Gaming bot laner Wang “Hope” Jie. With the 2022 LPL Spring Split start just around the corner, JDG has completed its star-studded roster with a bit of the wild card for the bot lane. The team’s bot laner will be the 21-year-old player Hope, who joins the team after four years under the EDG banner. Hope has had …
League of Legends
Why is Zven not playing for Cloud9 in the LCS?
Nicholas James
Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen, the former superstar European AD carry player, is signed to Cloud9 but won’t be playing any games at the LCS or Academy levels. Zven has been officially announced as a part of the Cloud9 Academy team, but is conspicuously missing from the roster that was later shown. Why is Zven going to be playing all of Cloud9 Academy’s scrims, but none of their stage games? The answer …
League of Legends
How to claim the LoL January Prime Gaming rewards
Nicholas James
Prime Gaming’s monthly rewards for League of Legends players have come around yet again, with free skins, Riot Points, and more for those that have an Amazon Prime account. Here’s what January’s Prime Gaming rewards will get you and how to claim them to ring in the new year with some new cosmetics. January’s Prime Gaming rewards include 650 Riot Points, one 1350 Riot Point Skin Permanent, 200 Orange Essence, …
League of Legends
LPL 2022 Spring Split schedule revealed with Uzi’s return date
Nicholas James
China’s LPL has become League of Legends’ best region in recent years, ending Korea’s dominance with victories from Invictus Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, and EDward Gaming. The LPL will return to play in January, with some absolutely massive changes. Legendary players return, franchise names depart their organizations, and it promises to be as bloody as ever. The LPL will resume play in 2022 beginning on January 10th, as it announced on …
League of Legends
All rosters for the 2022 LEC Spring Split
William Davis
The upcoming 2022 LEC Spring Split is only a few weeks away and a lot of prominent rosters will be hitting the Rift. After a well-deserved break, the best European League of Legends league will return on January 14. The LEC will once again host the 10 best teams that Europe has to offer, this time with new blood in the mix. For the first time, Team BDS will be …
League of Legends
League of Legends fan makes custom Tyler1 Doctor Mundo skin
Nicholas James
Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp has already been called the face of League of Legends streaming many times before, but a fan’s new Tyler1 Doctor Mundo skin takes that title to a new level. Youtuber “A Wild Udyr” released a video showing Tyler1 as League of Legends’ resident insane self-labeled physician, Doctor Mundo. From his signature tank top to a fanny pack full of Bloodrush, this adaptation of Tyler1 is equal parts …
League of Legends
LCK 2022 spring split schedule, DWG and T1 highlight
Nicholas James
The schedule for the LCK’s 2022 spring split has been released, with a full itinerary of matches already scheduled. The first matches will take place on January 1st, 2022 with both DragonX and T1 playing on that first day. From there, the schedule remains relatively normal throughout 2022 and will be familiar to long-time LCK fans. During regular play the LCK will run from Wednesdays to Sundays of any given …
League of Legends
Former world champion FPX GimGoon retires
Nicholas James
Former Worlds winner Kim “GimGoon” Han-saem has announced his retirement from professional League of Legends. GimGoon was a member of the first LPL team to win Worlds, playing top lane as a South Korean import for the Chinese organization FunPlus Phoenix. GimGoon was known as the “Weak Side King” for his ability to play top lane with nearly no attention from his teammates. GimGoon was sadly unable to find another …
Top tips for preseason 2022 in League of Legends
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Preseason 2022 has brought a ton of changes to League of Legends, and a few simple tips will help you navigate the new environment on Summoner’s Rift. There are brand new dragons with the addition of Chemtech and Hextech drakes, new items, and a new bounty system. What’s working in the 2022 preseason, and how can you best use it to your advantage? There are two new drakes floating into …
Riot Games settles gender discrimination lawsuit for $100 million
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games has settled its high-profile class-action gender discrimination lawsuit to the tune of $100 million, $80 million of which will be split among women who worked at Riot Games between 2014 and today. The lawsuit against Riot Games that alleged a hostile workplace for women, harassment, and potentially toxic elements resulted in part from a 2018 investigative effort by Kotaku to expose the League of Legends developers’ unhealthy workplace …
How to play Evelynn in League of Legends
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Evelynn is the original Ability Power-focused assassin jungler in League of Legends, and she’s doing well heading into next season. Ever since her rework she has had the potential to be exactly the demon she is in the lore, stalking from the shadows and demolishing her prey in mere seconds. Here’s how to play Evelynn in League of Legends heading into preseason 2022. Evelynn has been dominating the preseason, with …
When does Season 12 start in League of Legends?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The 2022 preseason is passing by quickly, and League of Legends fans already have their eyes set on the coming year and the next season of ranked play. Season 12 promises tons of changes for players with new dragons, items, and more. When does Season 12’s ranked play start, and when can fans expect patches in 2022? Season 12’s start date for ranked doesn’t have a specific day just yet, …
Excel’s Nukeduck, Finn, Markoon talk preseason 2022 changes
Nicholas James
League of Legends
During a training camp in London, Excel’s new LEC roster took time to chat with WIN.gg about preseason 2022 game changes, the current state of League of Legends, and the potential ramifications for professional play. Preseason 2022 has been met with a mixed reception, with praise and criticism given to different aspects of the new experience. We spoke with Finn “Finn” Wiestål, Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm, and Mark “Markoon” van Woensel …
Who is Johnsun and how did he move from TSM to FlyQuest?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen is one of few native North American marksman players who has managed to climb into the LCS from lower levels of play in recent years. Starting in Academy in 2019, Johnsun has proven himself as a talent able to stand toe-to-toe with some of North America’s best players when at his best. Johnsun spent the latter portion of 2021 in Academy and seems to be on an …
This Chemtech Drake bug turns Sylas into Volibear permanently
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Resurrection effects in League of Legends have often led to a laundry list of bugs and unintended interactions over the MOBA’s many years. One of the preseason additions, Chemtech Drake, is the latest of these abilities that causes an assuredly unintended outcome. Thanks to the new dragon, Sylas can permanently assume Volibear’s form if the stars align. This bug involves a couple of specific elements and requires exact timing in …
This is the Misfits roster for the 2022 LEC
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Misfits has announced their 2022 LEC roster, featuring new regional talent alongside faces players will recognize from last split. Misfits has leaned into building new talent more so than organizations like Vitality, who has bought proven talent in order to build out a superteam. Shin “Hirit” Tae-min takes Misfits’ top lane position, maintaining his spot from both the spring and summer splits of 2021. Lucjas “Shlatan” Ahmad has made his …
How Ultra Rapid Bingo works in Wild Rift
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends’ iconic high-speed game mode Ultra Rapid Fire has made its way to Wild Rift for mobile gamers to try out. With it has come a brand new minigame called Ultra Rapid Bingo that rewards players for finishing certain missions depending on the orientation of their bingo card. Filling out a straight line of four tiles will result in a card being completed. Ultra Rapid Bingo is exactly …
Hit LoL show Arcane rakes in Annie Award nominations
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The hype train for Arcane, the Netflix-exclusive animated adaptation of League of Legends, doesn’t seem to be stopping. As the annual Annie Awards have come around, Fortiche Productions has received accolade after accolade for their fantastic work in the nine-episode series starring characters from the LoL regions of Piltover and Zaun. Arcane raked in a variety of nominations in categories next to the best the industry had to offer this …
Team BDS confirms debut roster for 2022 LEC season
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2022 LEC season is right around the corner and for Team BDS that means the debut of the organization and its new team to the biggest league in Europe. After buying the LEC franchise slot of FC Schalke 04 earlier this year, Team BDS has finally revealed its roster, which contains several familiar names. Meanwhile, Team BDS will also field two rookies in this upcoming split who will both …
Behind the scenes of the “What Could Have Been” song in Arcane
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Arcane, League of Legends’ hit animated adaptation on Netflix, got heaps of praise for its soundtrack and the original compositions made for it. Artist Alex “Mako” Seaver took fans behind the scenes on the creation of the ninth episode’s chilling finale song “What Could Have Been” and explained what it took to create it. In a video on his official Youtube channel, Mako breaks down the long and complicated creative …
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.
