League of Legends
League of Legends
New LoL avatar creator lets you find your Runeterran look
Nicholas James
Have you ever wanted to see what you might look like if you lived in Runeterra, the fantasy world of League of Legends? Riot Games has given fans the chance to answer that questions for themselves with a brand new Picrew-style avatar creator. Picrew has been steadily growing in popularity, especially on Twitter, allowing users to assemble personalized illustrated characters to function as profile pictures or just for fun. Riot …
League of Legends
FC Barcelona joining LoL esports with Superliga team
Nicholas James
European football titan FC Barcelona has doubled down on its commitment to esports, purchasing a slot in the brand new iteration of the Spanish Superliga, one of the regional leagues. It’s become increasingly common for top-level football clubs to begin expanding into the esports space, with FC Schalke 04 and Paris Saint-Germain being the most notable entrants into the space. The football club announced its venture into the esports space …
League of Legends
Doublelift says TSM founder Regi made his players cry
Nicholas James
Retired professional AD Carry Peng “Doublelift” Yilang has had the League of Legends community’s full attention since airing some serious grievances with the conduct of TSM founder Andy “Reginald” Dinh, and that isn’t slowing down. Doublelift went on stream to discuss his negative personal experiences with Reginald throughout his time on TSM with a specific focus on the 2020 offseason. In a second stream yesterday, Doublelift expanded the allegations of …
League of Legends
Arcane Act Two trailer brings the high-tech action
Nicholas James
Riot’s animated series set in the world of League of Legends has been a hit, debuting at number one in dozens of countries on Netflix. Ahead of Arcane act two releasing, Riot Games has dropped a new teaser trailer that expands on things that were shown in the previous trailers. SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FIRST THREE EPISODES OF ARCANE, POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE SECOND ACT https://youtu.be/0JSwG2sqUm8 Arcane’s first act followed …
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
Vander may be an existing LoL champion, and we know who
Nicholas James
Riot’s animated series, Arcane, has taken the world by storm. The first act skyrocketed to the most viewed show on Netflix the day after its release, and it has peaked as the most-watched series in 38 different countries. As fans discuss the wild events of the first act, clues that have been in plain sight for years are pointing towards a secret origin story for one of League of Legends’ …
3 of the best TFT compositions for Gizmos & Gadgets 11.22
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics: Gizmos and Gadgets is here, ushering a new wave of experimentation and innovation as players try and figure out the best comps. With its debut patch, there can be a lot to absorb and integrate into your gameplay quickly. This article will highlight some of the best compositions that are available in Teamfight Tactics: Gizmos and Gadgets on patch 11.22. From one-shotting your enemy’s entire team with Lux …
League of Legends Arcane brings cross-game content to Among Us
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
League of Legends animated series Arcane is already at the center of two cross-game collaborations, and another is coming up with Among Us. RiotX Arcane progress days are here and there are even more games involved than what fans were expecting. A recent tweet from League of Legends profiles revealed that Arcane skins are set to come to Among Us. A video was posted showing off many of the previously …
How to play Doctor Mundo’s rework to its full potential
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
Worlds 2021 final hits 4 million viewers, breaks LoL record
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
EDward Gaming shocks DWG KIA to win Worlds 2021 finals
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
T1’s Worlds run passes the torch of Korean LoL dynasties
Nicholas James
League of Legends
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 …
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.
