League of Legends
League of Legends
T1 has reportedly been sent funeral flower wreaths from furious fans
William Davis
Korean League of Legends fans don’t seem to like the direction that the T1 franchise is heading. Since T1 rebranded from SK Telecom T1 back in February 2019, CEO Joe Marsh has been taking the organization in a new and more commercial direction. The Korean League of Legends fans have not been impressed by this change of pace and have recently shown their frustration through social media, but now also …
League of Legends
K/DA releases first EP with a total of five songs
William Davis
The wait has been long but the virtual League of Legends pop group K/DA has finally released its first EP. We’ve been with THE BADDEST, you got a whole lot MORE, but now it’s time to go #ALLOUT. Available NOW:YouTube: https://t.co/jSLQ2gl6ONSpotify: https://t.co/7M60wuTXfpApple Music: https://t.co/mvp0TkVWLp#KDA #ALLOUT #VILLAIN #DRUMGODUM #ILLSHOWYOU pic.twitter.com/zXe5sgDnA8 — K/DA (@KDA_MUSIC) November 6, 2020 All the songs from the EP ALL OUT are now available on Spotify and Apple …
League of Legends
Why was Voyboy banned from Twitch?
William Davis
League of Legends streamer Joedat “Voyboy” Esfahani has been banned from Twitch. Voyboy was in the middle of his regularly scheduled stream when Twitch hit him with a ban. Voyboy went on Twitter to explain that he doesn’t know the reason for his ban, while Twitch is yet to comment on the situation. By the time of this report, Voyboy had been banned for four hours and counting. Voyboy is …
League of Legends
Ivern’s Brazilian voice actor José Carlos Guerra dies at age 75
William Davis
José Carlos Guerra, who is known in the League of Legends community as the Brazilian voice actor for Ivern, has died at age 75. The Brazilian voice actor died of respiratory failure after battling lung cancer. Guerra was known as one of the best voice actors in Brazil and has most notably been dubbing Commissioner Gordon in the Batman series from 1966. He is also known as the voice behind …
Sjokz looks for CSGO work, contract with Riot “up for the year”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
LEC host Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere’s contract with Riot Games has ended. Sjokz tweeted that her contract with Riot Games as a host is “up for the year.” Due to the year’s unusual travel concerns, Sjokz added that her plans for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive “fell through” this year as well. With both of her gigs up in the air, Sjokz said that she is looking for more CSGO event work going …
LCS removes spring split, changes academy, adds 2021 tournaments
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
North American League of Legends is set to undergo a significant change in 2021. According to Travis Gafford, the LCS will be restructured for the next season in a number of different ways. This includes a merger of the spring and summer splits, new tournaments, and an expansion of the academy system. The removal of the spring split is the most eye-catching change. The LCS has used a few different …
League of Legends player rankings are dominated by DAMWON Gaming
William Davis
League of Legends
The individual skill level at the 2020 World Championship was insanely high, but the 10 best players have still been crowned for the first WIN.gg LoL player rankings. It’s hard to measure skill between League of Legends players, but the WIN.gg algorithm works to find the aboslute best players in the world. Luckily, most of the best players in the world were gathered at Worlds, competing against each other in …
League of Legends team rankings show DAMWON, LPL on top
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 League of Legends season is coming to an end after an incredible 2020 World Championship. On that occasion, it’s time to present the first WIN.gg LoL rankings for the 10 best teams in the world. The rankings are based on a lot of factors through our proprietary algorithmic method that helps to identify who the best teams in the world currently are. The recent World Championship has made …
ahq Esports rumored to replace Rogue Warriors in LPL for 2021
William Davis
League of Legends
Big changes in the LPL might be coming for the 2021 season, as ahq eSports Club is reportedly going to buy the spot held by Rogue Warriors. According to Fomos reporter Kenzi, ahq has purchased the Rogue Warrior seed in the LPL and is expected to participate in the 2021 LPL Spring Split. This comes after ahq has been participating in the newly formed PCS league, but missed out on …
Vitality is reportedly picking up AGO Rogue’s Szygenda for 2021
William Davis
League of Legends
It seems that Vitality might have found its new top laner for the 2021 LEC season. According to ESPN’s Jacob Wolf, Vitality is looking to sign AGO ROGUE top laner Mathias “Szygenda” Jensen after an incredible year for the young Danish talent. Szygenda will be replacing Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet, who announced that he is exploring options for the next season back in September. Cabochard has been a part of Vitality …
Riot is looking to move Seraphine from support to mid lane
William Davis
League of Legends
Seraphine has only been in the game for a few days and Riot is already looking to adjust her role in the upcoming patch. Patch 10.23 won’t only be a big preseason patch, it will also have some changes to Seraphine’s role in the game. According to lead gameplay designer Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, Seraphine has been skewed towards the support position more than was intended. Therefore, Riot will be making …
Tyler1 speaks out about Pokimane’s $5 donation cap on Twitch
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
T1 streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp had a response to another streamer. And for once, it was to voice his agreement instead of cause drama. Imane “Pokimane” Anys recently limited her Twitch donations to a $5 maximum. While she didn’t say exactly why, Pokimane has been criticized in the past for accepting donations from male viewers who send large amounts of money despite potentially having financial problems. This has led some …
All you need to know to prepare for League of Legends Season 11
William Davis
League of Legends
Season 11 in League of Legends is right around the corner, and it’s coming with big changes to items, ranked play, the in-game shop, and more. The new season won’t just be a big change because of the usual ranked reset, but also because of the big item overhaul that will hit the live servers in the preseason. Players will get a few months to adjust to the new items …
Excel Esports parts ways with Caedrel before LoL 2021 shuffle
William Davis
League of Legends
Excel Esports and jungler Marc “Caedrel” Lamont have chosen to part ways after working together since the end of 2018 where Excel entered the LEC franchise. Thank you @Caedrel. Thank you for joining us on this journey for the past two years. Thank you for putting your trust into Excel back in 2018. Thank you for everything, there will always be a home here for you. Now go smash whatever …
T1, Faker to appear on BTS’s new variety show Run BTS
William Davis
League of Legends
T1 has announced a new collaboration with wildly popular musical act BTS. T1 and BTS are two names that need no introduction. The most popular esports organization in the world and the most popular boy band are collaborating for the first time. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, Park “Teddy” Jin-sung, Lee “Effort” Sang-ho, Mun “Cuzz” Uchan, and Kim “Canna” Chang-dong are the first special guests of Run BTS, a variety show produced …
LPL coverage saw a big increase in the 2020 LPL Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
The best Chinese League of Legends league, the LPL, has grown a lot over the course of 2020 with many new international fans tuning in. Having a total of 16 teams in the LPL has made it the most competitive league in 2020. The Chinese teams have managed to pick up the Worlds trophy two years in a row but were recently stopped by Korea’s DAMWON Gaming in the 2020 …
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.
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