League of Legends
League of Legends
Riot is planning to upgrade Xin Zhao’s abilities
William Davis
Xin Zhao is looking to get an overhaul in the near future with updates to all of his abilities, opening up for more range and ability power scaling. As revealed by gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, Xin Zhao is getting a little upgrade, after he has been struggling in terms of power on Summoner’s Rift lately. The Seneschal of Demacia is looking to get adjustments for all five abilities, …
League of Legends
DWG KIA is 1st team to clinch spot in 2021 LCK Spring playoffs
William Davis
Defending world champion DWG KIA is locked in for the 2021 LCK Spring Split playoffs after mathematically securing a spot. After another flawless week for DWG KIA, the team is now on a nine-match winning streak and is starting to add some distance from the rest of the LCK field. With an 11-1 record, DWG KIA is already locked in for the playoffs despite having four weeks of the regular …
League of Legends
2021 Mid-Season Invitational gets new format, dates revealed
William Davis
The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational will happen and fans now know when, where, and how it will take place. #MSI2021 is coming. Who will Break Out? Pack your parkas, because League of Legends’ greatest pro players are about to showdown in Iceland! This sprawling, epic landscape will set the stage for big moves & rising legends. Dates: May 6-22. pic.twitter.com/besQKwW3AW — LoL Esports (@lolesports) March 1, 2021 After missing out on …
League of Legends
Riot Korea under fire for copyright striking LCK YouTube content
Olivia Richman
The League of Legends community is frustrated with Riot Korea for how restrictive the company officials are being with LCK content. Before the 2021 season, the LCK announced that it “couldn’t reach a broadcasting rights agreement” with YouTube, meaning the matches would only be available for viewing on Twitch for English-language viewers. Many fans were frustrated with their lack of viewing options and pointed out how LCK’s Twitch viewership hasn’t …
League of Legends
Riot speaks on whether it will add more bans to champ select
William Davis
Getting more bans in champion select is in high demand among some League of Legends players as the game grows bigger, and Riot has decided to address the matter. In a recent Ask Riot blog, Riot gave an answer to why there hasn’t been added even more bans to champion select and why it’s unlikely that players will see it in the near future. Riot previously changed the champion select …
League of Legends
Uzi officially leaves RNG, joins multi-channel network
William Davis
Former RNG bot laner and veteran Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao has officially parted ways with the esports organization. After being away from the competitive scene for over a year, Uzi has now left his home at RNG to seek new opportunities elsewhere. After retiring, Uzi has been pursuing streaming and will continue to do so at “小象大鹅”, which is a multi-channel network that will hopefully help Uzi boost his streaming career. …
League of Legends
T1’s 18-year-old jungler Oner remains undefeated in LCK
William Davis
T1 is bringing out another upcoming LCK star by debuting Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon. The young jungler is currently undefeated after four games. After waiting for weeks, the last piece of T1’s 10-man LCK roster got his debut against Liiv SANDBOX just a few days ago. Oner is the last of the five young players T1 has added to the team in 2021 to debut and, so far, he has been …
League of Legends
Is Senna the most versatile bot laner in League of Legends?
Nicholas James
As Season 11 of League of Legends moves along, one champion has become a monster in competitive play and has turned into a massively flexible pick. Senna has been a staple in professional play since her release but may have just transcended to a new height this season. As of right now, the champion is one of the highest-picked bot laners and can be flexed between support and carry roles …
Riot presents changes to the LEC 2021 season awards
William Davis
League of Legends
The LEC player and team awards will see some changes for the 2021 LEC Spring Split and onwards. For every split, the LEC is giving out a handful of awards to the best-performing players and teams over the course of the season. Riot is intended to keep that tradition in 2021 but with some changes for the LEC rewards. From the 2021 LEC Spring Split and onward, the awards will …
FC Schalke may sell LEC spot due to football club’s struggles
Tokoni Uti
League of Legends
With FC Schalke 04 currently in the midst of a turbulent season that sees them ranked 20th in the Bundesliga, the club is considering disbanding its esports team and selling its LEC spot. Schalke has been a part of European League of Legends since 2016, including stints both in the EU LCS and EU Challenger series, and was awarded a franchise position during the creation of the LEC in 2019. …
Riot is finally nerfing Seraphine and Udyr in patch 11.5
William Davis
League of Legends
The fifth League of Legends patch for season 11 is right around the corner, and gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter has provided a detailed preview. LoL patch 11.5 is looking to be another big patch for the game, where the focus is to nerf some of the most prominent champions while also trying to bring in new faces to the meta. The recent meta has been heavily dominated by …
Will Dominion ever return to League of Legends?
William Davis
League of Legends
Dominion was officially retired in League of Legends five years ago, but fans of the game mode are still longing for its return. The fast-paced game mode was one of the first to hit the League of Legends servers after Summoner’s Rift. After being introduced in 2011, Dominion quickly became a place where players could duke it out without trying too hard to win. The main focus of Dominion was …
Riot Games officially confirms development of LoL MMORPG
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
After previous teases and leaks, Riot Games has officially announced that a League of Legends MMORPG game is in the works. An official page on the League of Legends website states that the publisher is looking to hire game developers to work on an MMORPG. These sorts of games are a big undertaking, Riot admitted, meaning the company is looking for more employees to “gear up for the journey.” This …
Is T1 prepping to drop Faker with LCK roster shuffle?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
As the 2021 LCK Spring Split continues to roll on this season, T1 is looking like a shadow of its former self. The organization sits solidly in the middle of the LCK standings and may not be trying to push for a high placement in the spring. The team has been cycling in new players left and right, and it may be going through a transitional phase with its old …
FPX suspends Bo after match fixing confession, LPL investigating
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
FunPlus Phoenix jungler Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo has been suspended after admitting to match-fixing. FPX states that organization staff approached Bo over suspicions of match-fixing during the 2020 LDL Summer Split. The LDL is functionally academy league of the LPL. Bo told the organization that he had been “coerced” into match-fixing during the split, but no details were given in regards to which matches this occurred during. Bo is suspended by …
Santorin carries Team Liquid to key LCS Spring win over Cloud9
William Davis
League of Legends
After a shaky start to the 2021 LCS Spring Split, Team Liquid ended the third week with a dominant win over first-place team Cloud9. After losing a close best-of-five to Team Liquid in the LCS Lock In finals, it was time for Cloud9 to get a rematch and another win on the board. Despite losing the Lock In final, Cloud9 is currently outperforming Team Liquid in the 2021 LCS Spring …
G2’s Rekkles and Mikyx showcase new Sion and Senna synergy
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports’ bot lane pulled off an innovative combo on Sion and Senna in their game against Schalke 04 in the 2021 LEC Spring Split. The combo was never seen before in professional play up until now. And if it wasn’t for the bot lane of Martin “Rekkles” Larsson and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle pulling it off twice, some would think that it was completely coincidental. The combo that Rekkles and …
DWG Kia’s Khan says retirement possible after 2021 LCK season
William Davis
League of Legends
One of the greatest players in South Korea might be retiring after the 2021 season, as DWG KIA top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha stated that he will soon be forced to join the military. In a recent interview with the South Korean site Naver, Khan talked about how he might be forced to join the military by the end of the year. If this is the case, Khan would be …
MAD Lions upset Fnatic, nab third place in 2021 LEC Spring Split
William Davis
League of Legends
MAD Lions ended the fifth week of the 2021 LEC Spring Split with a win against Fnatic and secured the third-place spot in the league. One of the most anticipated matches of the 2021 LEC Spring Split’s fifth week was between Fnatic and MAD Lions, who were both fighting to secure the third-place spot. On paper, it was a hard match to predict as Fnatic lost an unexpected match against …
All 10 LCS teams reportedly want to remove the import rule
William Davis
League of Legends
The LCS import rule has been brought up once again and all LCS teams have a say on the matter. Ahead of the 2021 competitive season, the LCS import rules changed once again. This was due to Riot shutting down the Oceanic Pro League in October, which resulted in free entry to all Oceanic players in the LCS or LCS Academy league. Giving organizations the possibility to import players without …
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.
