League of Legends
League of Legends
Riot Forge reveals first look of Ruined King: A League of Legends story
William Davis
Riot Games just released the trailer for its new game, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story. League of Legends fans have a new title to look forward to in early 2021. Ruined King is a single-player story-driven turn-based RPG game developed by Airship Syndicate. Ruined King is the first game developed under Riot Forged, a partnership between Riot Games and independent studios. Riot first announced Ruined King in 2019 …
League of Legends
Rogue adding FC Shalke 04’s Odoamne, promoting Trymbi in 2021
William Davis
Veteran top laner Andrei “Odoamne” Pasdu seems to be heading to Rogue, while AGO Rogue support Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus will replace Oskar “Vander” Bagdan. According to ESPN, Rogue is close to signing former FC Schalke 04 top laner Odoamne. The team will also give rookie support Trymbi a chance to fill the big shoes of Vander. The Polish veteran is on contract with Rogue through the end of the 2021 …
League of Legends
Riot looks to improve champion select and LoL’s end-game lobby
William Davis
More improvements to the League of Legends client are underway, with the latest targeting things players experience before and after every game they play. Riot Games recently released its fifth client cleanup report, with a focus on champion select and the end of game experience. Riot is primarily looking to make champion select more responsive and to improve the user experience by potentially removing features that are taking up space …
League of Legends
SK Gaming is reportedly looking to pick up Jezu, TynX, and Blue
William Davis
SK Gaming might look to make a lot of offseason changes going into the 2021 LEC season. The offseason rumors have made its way to SK, a team that is reportedly looking to pick up three new players for the upcoming season. According to Esportmaniacos, SK is looking to pick up Misfits Premier bot laner Jean “Jezu” Massol, LDLC jungler Kristian “TynX” Hansen, and 1907 Fenerbahce mid laner Ersin “Blue” …
League of Legends
How Suning went from a mediocre LPL team to a Worlds finalist
William Davis
Suning has undergone huge improvements the past year, taking them to the 2020 League of Legends World Championship final despite low expectations. Going into Worlds 2020, very few people expected something big from Suning. Coming out of the LPL as the third seed is no easy task, but teams such as Top Esports, JD Gaming, and G2 Esports were expected to beat them on any given day. The young squad …
League of Legends
Quickshot and Vedius will cast Worlds 2020 final, Sjokz to host
William Davis
The biggest esports match of the year is approaching and will have some of the best on-air talent available covering it, but it won’t be covered by as many casters as in years past. The 2020 League of Legends World Championship final will be cast by none other than Trevor “Quickshot” Henry and Andy “Vedius” Day. The analyst desk will be hosted by Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere and will include such …
League of Legends
What is Fnatic planning for its LEC team this offseason?
William Davis
Offseason rumors are floating around left and right around Fnatic. After finishing top eight in the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, Fnatic’s offseason has now begun. The team took heavy favorites Top Esports to five games. Very few expected Fnatic to put up a fight against the LPL champions, but Fnatic exited the tournament looking stronger than it did entering. Despite the decent performance at Worlds, there are still quite …
League of Legends
K/DA releases new single MORE featuring Seraphine
William Davis
K/DA is ready with another song from their upcoming EP, leading up to its anticipated performance at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship final. The virtual pop group’s newest song, “MORE,” is featuring the vocal talents Madison Beer, SOYEON, and MIYEON of K-Pop group (G)I-DLE. Furthermore, the song features former K/DA member Jaira Burns, Lexie Liu, and the newest League of Legends champion Seraphine. It has been known that …
Will Xmithie retire after parting ways with Immortals?
William Davis
League of Legends
Jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero won’t be returning to Immortals in 2021. Immortals has allegedly decided to move forward without Xmithie on its roster, according to a report by ESPN. It means that Xmithie’s contract would be up for grabs next November 16. According to the report, Immortals is in the process of acquiring head coach Andre “Guilhoto” Pereira who’s still under contract with Astralis. It’s unclear if Xmithie will find …
Jensen reportedly signs $4.2 million, 3-year deal with Team Liquid
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid is once again involved in another huge offseason rumor. According to Travis Gafford, Liquid mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen will re-sign with the organization on a three-year deal. The new contract is reportedly worth $4.2 million, which would make for yet another record-breaking contract in the LCS. Jensen has been a key part of Liquid’s recent domestic and international success. Jensen joined the team in 2018 after several …
Evil Geniuses adding MAD Lions’ Peter Dun, building around Svenskeren
William Davis
League of Legends
Evil Geniuses will reportedly be making big changes to its coaching staff for the 2021 season. According to ESPN, Evil Geniuses is eying the former MAD Lions head of coach staff Peter Dun, who recently announced that he will be looking for new opportunities in 2021. If the deal goes through, Dun will become Evil Geniuses’ head coach and work to build up a team around star jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” …
Riot teases 2020 Worlds final opening ceremony
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 League of Legends World Championship opening ceremony is going to be wild. The big Worlds final is only a few days away and Riot is slowly starting to tease the matchup as well as the ceremony leading up to the game. This year’s opening ceremony will feature the virtual League of Legends pop group K/DA, assisted by the newest champion Seraphine. Furthermore, the ceremony will have names such …
New Battlecast and Resistance League of Legends skins revealed
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has five new skins ready to go for the last weeks of the season. It’s time for some brawlers to receive a new skin. Riot has presented a new Battlecast skin for Nasus and Zac, while Yorick, Jayce, and Singed will get new cosmetics from the Resistance skin line. The five new skins are expected to hit the Public Beta Environment very soon. PBE Preview: Battlecast New engines …
Doublelift talks about TSM’s 0-6 performance at Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
After coming back from the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, Team SoloMid bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has had some time to reflect on his and his team’s poor results. After TSM got knocked out of the Worlds group stage with a 0-6 record, there has been a lot of time for the players to reflect on the results and what went wrong. After returning to North America, Doublelift …
Bjergsen leaves TSM’s roster, heads into coaching with strong legacy
William Davis
League of Legends
Newly retired mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg ends his career with some impressive LCS stats. Not only has the former Team SoloMid captain been a leading figure of North American League of Legends for years, but he also has a resume that very few around the world can match. Shortly after the announcement of Bjergsen retiring as a player, Lolesports released some interesting stats for his LCS career. Most fans already …
Astralis reportedly eyeing Jeskla, promisq, and Zanzarah for LEC
William Davis
League of Legends
With Astralis set to phase out the Origen brand in the coming weeks, the organization is set to make some big changes to its LEC roster ahead of the 2021 season. According to Esportmaniacos, Astralis is looking to pick up mousesports’ Jesper “Jeskla” Strömberg and Hampus “promisq” Abrahamsson, while AGO ROGUE jungler Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov will get his LEC debut and replace Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir. The new bot lane would replace …
Team Liquid is reportedly close to signing Alphari
William Davis
League of Legends
After a lot of speculation about the popular top laner Barney “Alphari” Morris, it seems that he might be going to Team Liquid. According to ESPN, the European pro is close to signing a multi-year deal with Team Liquid. The LCS team has been known for importing amazing players and Alphari might be the next in line. If the deal goes through, Alphari will replace former world champion Jung “Impact” …
Only 12 perfect Pick’Ems remain after the Worlds 2020 semifinals
William Davis
League of Legends
Only 12 participants remain in contention for a perfect Pick’Em going into the 2020 League of Legends World Championship final. It’s been an incredible 2020 World Championship event so far, with many great storylines. The two best teams remain at the tournament with DAMWON Gaming and Suning competing for the Summoner’s Cup. This means that the final round of Pick’Ems is left, and only 12 people have the chance to …
Worlds 2020 Pick’Em final prediction
William Davis
League of Legends
After weeks of world-class League of Legends, it’s time for the big 2020 League of Legends World Championship final, where a live crowd will be attending at the Pudong Soccer Stadium in Shanghai. The two teams competing are LCK’s dominant DAMWON Gaming and the LPL third seed Suning, who has surprised everyone throughout the tournament. The Worlds final also means the last step in this year’s Pick’Em where fans from …
Suning continues its surprising Worlds 2020 run, takes down TOP Esports
William Davis
League of Legends
Suning did it again. The LPL underdog defeated TOP Esports and is advancing to finals in the 2020 World Championship. Suning pulled off yet another major upset and is advancing to face DAMWON Gaming in finals. Underestimated by everyone, Suning keeps proving that it’s a worthy opponent as the team has taken down yet another LPL team. This is the first victory Suning gets over TES since 2019. Suning keeps …
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.
League of Legends
Gilius renews his contract with FC Schalke 04 for the 2021 LEC season
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Should Perkz leave G2 Esports? Would G2 be the same without him?
By
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Suning vs DAMWON Gaming 2020 World Championship betting analysis
By
William Davis
