League of Legends
League of Legends
US government probes Riot, Epic Games over Tencent ownership
Steven Rondina
When United States president Donald Trump made moves to shut down WeChat and TikTok from operating in the USA, it led to questions whether it would have killed League of Legends, Fortnite, and a number of other games with financial ties to China. Those concerns were briefly alleviated, but now it appears that the story isn’t yet over. According to a report by Bloomberg, the Committee on Foreign Investment in …
League of Legends
Can FlyQuest’s Santorin match up with junglers at Worlds 2020?
William Davis
The jungle position will be packed at the 2020 World Championship, with world-class junglers attending from every region. While he proved a big part of his team’s success domestically, how will FlyQuest jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen do against this sort competition? The Danish jungler will have to face great opponents right from the group stage, with Top Esports Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan and DragonX Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon placed in the same …
League of Legends
Predicting the highest priority champion bans going into Worlds
William Davis
The 2020 World Championship patch is live with adjustments to champions both strong and weak. Some of those champions receiving buffs might end up as high-priority bans at the tournament. It’s not unusual to see a couple of champions make the ban list in almost every game at Worlds. Last year, Pantheon was the most feared champion that no team wanted to face. This made him a permanent ban. Xayah …
League of Legends
Tracking the TCL’s Papara SuperMassive’s journey to Worlds 2020
Nicholas James
Papara SuperMassive has gone through controversy, a rebrand, and a roster rebuild in its 2020 season in the Turkish Championship League leading up to its World Championship qualification. SuperMassive, as the organization was known before rebranding to Papara SuperMassive after signing a sponsorship deal with the Turkish digital wallet company, is no stranger to international events. The organization attended both MSI and the World Championships in 2018 and is looking …
League of Legends
PSG Talon will play with substitutes during the Worlds play-in stage
William Davis
PCS second-seed PSG Talon recently announced that it will have to play with substitute players in the 2020 World Championship play-in stage due to “travel restrictions and visa requirements”. In an official statement, PSG Talon announced that jungler Kim “River” Dong-woo and mid laner Park “Tank” Dan-won won’t be able to participate in the play-in stage because they will still be under quarantine in Shanghai. To replace the two Koreans, …
League of Legends
Worlds broadcast team revealed, no English LPL casters included
William Davis
After the conclusion of the 2020 World Championship group draw, Riot Games announced its broadcasting approach for the upcoming event, and it seems to be without any of the English LPL broadcasters. The Worlds games will take place in Shanghai, but the broadcast itself will be produced from different parts of the world. Right after the group drawing, it was announced that this year’s Worlds will be a multi-city production …
League of Legends
Riot Games gives first preview of its new Dragonmancers skin line
William Davis
It hasn’t been long since Riot gave a detailed update on its plans for skins for the rest of the year. The update gave fans a look at the last champions who will be receiving a new skin in 2020. Five champions will receive a new skin from the new Dragonmancers skin line within the next few patches. As the name indicates, the skins will have a dragon theme and …
League of Legends
Analyzing all the groups at LoL Worlds 2020
William Davis
The groups for the 2020 League of Legends World Championship are decided. 22 teams were seeded into different groups and the favorites and underdogs are now clear. New rivalries and new faces will be present for Worlds 2020, meaning this could be the most competitive Worlds to date. This year, the VCS won’t be participating in the event, so there’s a change of format. 10 teams will be split into …
LoL Worlds 2020 play-in, main event groups revealed
William Davis
League of Legends
The groups for the 2020 League of Legends World Championship play-in stage and main event have been revealed. Fans around the world are waiting for Worlds to kick off on September 25, but their appetites have been whetted with the announcement of some of the matches they can expect. As always, the main event group stage will consist of four groups, with four teams in each. 12 teams are qualified …
Origen rebrands as Astralis, Origen GM Deficio steps down
William Davis
News
Astralis Group has announced that it will merge all activities and teams into the Astralis brand, including the LEC team Origen. The merge will happen with immediate effect, which means that Origen and the FIFA roster Future FC will now be known as Astralis. According to Astralis Group CEO Anders Hørsholt, the merger of all team brands will “position them as a leading organization in international esports”. The Astralis logo …
The five best players before the 2020 LoL World Championship
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 World Championship is just a short time away, and with all of the participating teams decided, it’s time to talk about the best players heading into the event. All eyes are on the major regions and the teams coming from them. This year, the LPL may have the most promising teams in the scene. But they’re not alone. These are teams that have been making waves in each …
IWillDominate, others help fans watch Worlds players in solo queue
William Davis
League of Legends
The 22 teams for the 2020 World Championship are starting to gather in Shanghai to grind solo queue games and scrim on the Chinese super server. But how can fans watch their favorite players duke it out on Summoner’s Rift? The Worlds bootcamp is always hyped up because all the best players in the world gather on the same League of Legends server just once per year. This year, all …
Fnatic confirms MagiFelix as its 6th player for Worlds 2020
Tokoni Uti
League of Legends
As the team travels to Shanghai for the 2020 World Championship, Europe’s Fnatic has confirmed academy mid laner Felix “MagiFelix” Boström as its 6th man for the tournament. Riot is continuing to allow one substitute player per team at Worlds, though Fnatic has not utilized any talent outside of its main roster so far this season. Jungler Daniel “Dan” Hockley had been promoted from academy squad Fnatic Rising for last …
Cloud9 parts ways with coach Reapered after missing Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 is parting ways with head coach Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu after over four years spent as the team’s head coach. Reapered has been the brain behind several years of success at C9, taking the organization to four World Championship events. Reapered has been known for his innovative playstyle and his willingness to draft off-meta champions. This has been a key part of C9’s success both domestically and internationally. Reapered will …
Riot changes prize pool allocation going into Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games recently announced some changes to the 2020 World Championship prize pool allocation, which will be more evenly distributed this year. The two VCS teams will also be greatly compensated for their absence. Fans are gearing up for Worlds while the participating teams have started the bootcamp in Shanghai. In a recent article, Riot provided fans with the last bit of information before the tournament kicks off. The most …
Coach Kim resigns from T1 after missing Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
T1 coach Kim Jeong-soo has resigned from T1 after the results of the Worlds Regional Qualifiers. According to T1, the decision was mutual and the organization respects Kim’s decision. The announcement was anticipated by many fans after a lackluster split where T1 did not manage to qualify for the 2020 World Championship. Dear fans,Following the results of the Worlds Qualifiers, Jung Su “KIM” Kim has decided to resign. T1 respects …
Can the NA region and its LCS teams perform at Worlds 2020?
William Davis
League of Legends
North America as a region has been struggling to find success at the annual League of Legends World Championship. But this year might be the one where an LCS team makes an unexpected deep run at the tournament. LCS teams are often considered worse than the other major regions, but is that a fair assessment by League of Legends fans? And will that assessment hold up this year? LCS teams …
These champions could end up dominating LoL Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 League of Legends World Championship kicks off in under two weeks and the Worlds patch is hitting live servers very soon. The Worlds patch is usually one of the most exciting of the year because Riot wants to guarantee the game is in perfect shape for the largest event of the year. Every year brings a new meta that sees a few champions dominate the picks and bans phase. …
Fans concerned with EDG response to sexual harassment claims
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Some League of Legends fans are not happy with how EDward Gaming is responding to sexual harassment allegations against an employee. A former EDG employee came forward with sexual harassment allegations against the organization’s official photographer. According to the previous employee, EDG had attempted to pay her off to keep her from going public with the story. Eventually, they “forced her out of the organization.” tw // sexual harassmentA former …
How will the new Mythical items change League of Legends?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The new item overhaul for Season 11 looks to bring big changes to how players build and purchase items while adding fresh and sometimes strange effects to new and existing items alike. Mythical items are the cornerstone of this update with activatable spells, potentially insane statistical buffs, and buffs to other items already in the player’s inventory. There is speculation on what these new changes will bring to the game …
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.
