League of Legends
League of Legends
Arcane becomes a smash hit on Netflix, #1 in 38 countries
Nicholas James
Riot Games’ debut venture into the traditional entertainment space seems to have been a smashing success. The animated series, Arcane, premiered on November 6. The Studio Fortiche-made show has gotten rave reviews from fans and has skyrocketed up to the number one most-viewed series on Netflix in a wide range of countries. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and the series has serious momentum heading into its second act, which will …
League of Legends
xMatty will reportedly make LEC debut with Team BDS next season
William Davis
Karmine Corp bot laner Matthew “xMatty” Coombs has reportedly verbally agreed to join Team BDS for the upcoming LEC season. The 22-year-old bot laner would be making his LEC debut together with the Team BDS organization who bought the spot of Schalke 04 earlier this year. According to Dot Esports, the talented bot laner will be signing a two-year contract with the team which is also rumored to have other …
League of Legends
New Riot Forge game named Hextech Mayhem announced
Nicholas James
Riot’s move to publish other genres of games set in the League of Legends universe is getting big news this week. The latest release from Riot Forge has been announced, Hextech Mayhem. The new game is a rhythm running game set in Piltover and starring Ziggs. The game is developed by Choice Provisions, the developers of BIT.TRIP and other games. Riot Forge was announced as a part of Riot’s 10th-anniversary …
League of Legends
TL Jensen reveals that he might not play in 2022
Nicholas James
Reports of Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg returning to the LCS while wearing the colors of Team Liquid have left many fans wondering where current TL mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen will land in the offseason. On his Twitch stream, Jensen has made his future seem even more uncertain. Jensen’s career in North America was followed by the narrative of him dueling against Bjergsen, two EU LCS mid laners imported and eventually …
League of Legends
How to play Doctor Mundo’s rework to its full potential
Nicholas James
Doctor Mundo, Zaun’s resident mad “doctor” had a rework earlier this year to make his gameplay feel more modern. With that change, Mundo lost a little bit of his straightforward nature, with a new passive mini-game and a couple of key changes. It’s worth looking to professional players and highly ranked solo queue stars to see exactly how to optimize the new Mundo’s kit. From abilities to build, there’s a …
League of Legends
Worlds 2021 final hits 4 million viewers, breaks LoL record
William Davis
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship final won’t only go down in history as one of the closest, but also as the match with the all-time highest peak viewership in LoL esports history. In the five-game series between EDward Gaming and DWG KIA, the viewership peaked at 4,018,728 viewers according to Esport Charts. This isn’t only the highest peak of the tournament, but also an all-time record for the …
League of Legends
EDward Gaming shocks DWG KIA to win Worlds 2021 finals
Nicholas James
Worlds 2021 is finally over, and EDward Gaming has emerged as the victor by defeating Damwon Kia in the finals. After a month of top-level play, upsets, and underdog stories, the premiere League of Legends event of the year has ended. EDG secured the LPL its third Worlds title in four years and denied DWG Kia a defense of its title with a 3-2 grand finals upset. EDG has become …
League of Legends
T1’s Worlds run passes the torch of Korean LoL dynasties
Nicholas James
There is no team in the history of League of Legends that has been able to consistenly stand toe-to-toe with T1 and its star mid laner, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. In the semifinals of the 2021 World Championship, T1 faced down DAMWON KIA in a rematch of the 2021 LCK summer split finals. At the end of a grueling five-game series, it was DWG KIA that emerged victorious. T1’s exit from …
How Riot Games made the 2021 World Championship rings
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games has been stepping up production and promotion across the board as Worlds 2021 winds on, and one example of that is championship rings. The finals that take place tomorrow will involve the gifting of a brand new symbol of the brand new victors’ triumph, World Championship rings. These rings were previously announced, but Riot Games has released a new video that takes fans behind the scenes of the …
DWG KIA vs. EDward Gaming: 2021 Worlds final betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The winner of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship will finally be crowned when DWG KIA takes on EDward Gaming in the event’s grand final. It will be a battle between defending world champion DWG KIA and the challenger from the LPL, EDG, who are looking to take the trophy back to China after one year’s absence. The match is looking to be extremely competitive and thus a tough …
Riot is losing money on LoL esports, but is that a bad thing?
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
League of Legends is the biggest game in all of esports, but that doesn’t mean that League of Legends esports is actually profitable for the game’s developre. The Washington Post ran a story on the profitability of esports, with Riot Games head of esports John Needham discussing some of the numbers behind League of Legends esports in particular. Needham discussed how the game’s competitive scene loses money despite the sheer …
League of Legends and Valorant available in Epic Games Store
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games is continuing to shake up the video gaming world this week, opening the flood gates on announcements galore ahead of the Worlds 2021 finals and the release of Arcane, their flagship animated series on Netflix. After an announced collaboration with Fortnite, Riot is taking its partnership with Epic Games a step further. Today, Epic Games announced that all of Riot Games’ titles, including League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight …
Jack Etienne says C9 won’t be signing Bjergsen, Hans Sama, Mikyx
William Davis
League of Legends
After making it to the quarterfinals of the 2021 World Championship, it’s likely that Cloud9 will once again be shaking up its roster for the upcoming season. With many rumors surrounding the top LCS organizations, C9 is in the middle of it all. The biggest rumor around C9 is that mid laner Luka “Perkz” Perković is on his way back to Europe to join Team Vitality. This could leave C9 …
How to unlock Arcane Jinx, Jayce, Vi, and Caitlyn
Nicholas James
League of Legends
There are new skins coming to League of Legends as a part of the RiotX Arcane event celebrating Riot Games’ debut animated series, Arcane. The most iconic champions from Piltover and Zaun will all be getting twists that better represent their look in the animated series. The skins won’t be available all at once, but it’s pretty simple to collect each one. Here’s when each of the skins releases and …
Riot promotes new animated Netflix series with Arcane themed cafe
William Davis
League of Legends
The League of Legends animated series Arcane is only a few days away from airing on Netflix, which means worldwide promotion in unexpected ways. After many months of hype, fans are finally able to watch the first episodes of Arcane on Netflix this weekend. To make the series desirable for the mainstream audience as well, Riot and Netflix have started some big promotions of the series across some of the …
Patch 11.22 brings Graves nerfs, Akali buffs, Into The Arcane
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Patch 11.22 is bringing some extensive changes to League of Legends. There is one last patch before the preseason hits and Riot Games is taking the opportunity to belatedly address some picks that have made their way to the Worlds stage, and bring up some others that are struggling elsewhere. In addition, Victorious Blitzcrank will become available for everybody who managed to grind all the way to gold during this …
New Cafe Cutie skins for Annie, Soraka, Gwen, more
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot is bringing back its sweetest stylings with a bright and bubbly new skin line featuring a variety of champions. The new Cafe Cutie skins turn up the concept of a fantastical cafe all the way up to 11. Some of the characters receiving a skin, including Annie, Gwen, and Soraka, make sense with the theme of the whimsical coffee shop. Others, such as Vladimir, put a lighthearted twist on …
Into The Arcane event teaser highlights preseason event
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games is hitting League of Legends players with a double whammy of releases when it comes to the preseason changes and the upcoming animated series, Arcane. Alongside the release of new dragons, items, and more, Riot is going to hit players with a monthlong event to celebrate the launch of Arcane. A new trailer dropped to show off some of the content that League of Legends players can look …
How toxic is League of Legends? A new report has the answer
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends has garnered a reputation for a toxic in-game chat experience, so much so that the developer is removing the ability to communicate with opponents during a match. But a recent study on the topic found that toxicity in League of Legends may actually be decreasing, as hard as that may be for active players believe. Some other games have risen up to take the mantle of the …
Bwipo reportedly joining Team Liquid as new top laner for 2022
William Davis
League of Legends
After one split playing as a jungler, Fnatic’s Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau could potentially swap back to the top lane and do so in a completely new region. In a recent rumor reported by the Twitter account LEC Wooloo, it was discovered that Bwipo has reportedly “reached a verbal agreement” with Team Liquid as its new top laner for the 2022 LCS season. This would mean a role swap back to …
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.
