League of Legends
League of Legends
Riot addresses criticism of LCS broadcasts, promises improvements
Olivia Richman
The League of Legends community has been noticing a lot of issues with LCS broadcasts this year, and Riot has finally responded to growing criticism. Working, broadcasting, and streaming remotely has been a challenge in 2020, but Riot seems to understand that they can definitely be doing better after complaints began to add up during the 2020 LCS Spring Split. In a recent press release, Riot explained that they were …
League of Legends
G2 Esports vs FC Schalke 04: 2020 LEC Summer betting analysis
William Davis
G2 Esports and FC Schalke 04 are meeting in Week 2 of the 2020 LEC Summer Split. This is not the usual one-sided match where G2 is expected to destroy the competition in 25 minutes. Somehow, Schalke always finds a way to get a few punches in and annoy G2. In the spring, a winless Schalke squad managed to get a victory against first-place G2, and there’s a chance it …
League of Legends
T1 extends contract with Teddy ahead of franchising in LCK
William Davis
T1 is getting ready for franchising in the LCK and has extended a key player’s contract through 2022. ADC extraordinaire Park “Teddy” Jin-seong has signed a two-year contract extension with T1. The deal comes just in time for the start of the 2020 LCK Summer Split where T1 is fighting for its fourth consecutive LCK title. “I wanted to sign Teddy because he’s the best ADC in the world. He’s …
News
SANDBOX Gaming coach YamatoCannon gets visa, heads to Korea
William Davis
SANDBOX Gaming’s new head coach Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi is on his way to South Korea after getting his visa approved. YamatoCannon, the first European coach to join an LCK organization, is ready to join the team in Seoul just in time for the start of the 2020 LCK Summer split. My VISA is approved and I fly in less then 24 hours. I’ll miss our game against Afreeca but I’ll …
League of Legends
Riot fires Ron Johnson for insensitive comments on George Floyd
Olivia Richman
After a few days of deliberation, Riot Games has fired Ron Johnson, the company’s global head of consumer products, over racially insensitive remarks regarding George Floyd. The League of Legends developers announced the news in a press release, shared by esports insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau on Twitter. In the statement, Riot calls Johnson’s remarks “abhorent,” claiming the words “directly counter” the company’s values and beliefs. “As we shared last week, …
League of Legends
Dignitas starts with Akaadian over Dardoch for LCS Week 1 matches
Olivia Richman
Joshua “Dardoch” Harnett is having a rough start to the Summer Split. Dignitas took to Twitter to reveal their starting roster for the opening week of the 2020 LCS Summer Split. Dardoch wasn’t in the accompanying picture, replaced instead by jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham. The starting roster also included Omran “V1per” Shoura in the top lane, with mid laner Henrik “Froggen” Hansen, ADC Johnson “Jonhsun” Nguyen, and Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black …
League of Legends
G2 Esports vs MAD Lions: 2020 LEC Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
G2 Esports and MAD Lions are playing in week one of the 2020 LEC Summer Split in a rematch of the spring semifinals. In its first split in the LEC, MAD achieved the unthinkable. The Spanish team took down G2 in the playoffs, forcing it to play from the loser’s bracket. G2 gained momentum in the lower bracket and when it was time for a rematch, MAD didn’t stand a …
League of Legends
Team Liquid vs TSM: 2020 LCS Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
LCS fans won’t have to wait long for the clash between Team Liquid and Team SoloMid. Two of the most popular teams in North America will meet in week one of the 2020 LCS Summer split. The offseason was all about Liquid and TSM because of the transfer of AD carry Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng from Liquid, where he had won four consecutive LCS splits, to TSM. It was a controversial …
TFT Galaxies mid-set patch 10.12 adds new traits, updates TFT Mobile
William Davis
League of Legends
The highly anticipated TFT: Galaxies mid-set update is live with TFT patch 10.12, and it brings changes to every single element in the game. This is the only content update for TFT: Galaxies, so from now until the new set there won’t be new champions or traits. The mid-set update also includes Lightcharger, Nixie and Bellswayer, a trio of Little Legends. Galaxies Ranked Stage two has officially started with patch …
Riot Games investigates executive over problematic George Floyd post
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
A Riot Games executive has been placed on leave after problematic social media posts were unearthed. Vice reported on a series of social media posts byRon Johnson, Riot’s global head of consumer products. Among them was a meme accompanied by a post that suggested the death of George Floyd was due to his “criminal lifestyle.” “There is no reason to condone his killing by the officer at all, which still …
Riot Games plans on big penalties for AFK players in solo queue
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is planning on giving harsher punishment to AFK players, the developer revealed in a recent update on fighting against game-ruining behavior. Back in May, Riot shared its plan to stop the game-ruining behavior in solo queue. After a month of research and the deploying of some small fixes to solo queue, Riot is starting to reconsider its penalty system. “Our penalties for AFKing rely too much on queue …
Akali and ADC Senna just got big buffs in League’s latest patch
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends patch 10.12 has arrived with new elements on the map, buffs for Volibear, and new high noon skins. High Noon Senna, High Noon Irelia, and Hextech Nocturne will be available on June 18. High Noon Senna is the first skin line the Redeemer shares with her husband, Lucian. The reworked Volibear arrived at the Summoner’s Rift with patch 10.11 and has been underperforming ever since. Volibear’s win …
100 Thieves Ssumday, CodySun, Ryoma talk challenges, goals for summer
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
100 Thieves surprised a lot of LCS viewers by placing third. But that wasn’t enough to keep the team happy. Chan-ho “Ssumday” Kim, Li-Yu “Cody Sun” Sun, and Tommy “Ryoma” Lee all expressed disappointment in their LCS Spring Split performance when talking to WIN.gg. Looking forward to the Summer Split, all three players believe there will be further improvements ahead. But the big question remains: Will they be able to …
C9 Zven: “The only other team that’s somewhat good is Team Liquid.”
Olivia Richman
News
It’s no surprise that Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen is feeling cofident going into the 2020 LCS Summer Split. Cloud9 had an almost flawless Spring Split, with no other North American teams even coming close to knocking them out of the top spot. But with Worlds on the line, Zven and his teammates are determined to stay on top of their game. WIN.gg spoke with the Spring Split champion about threats to …
CLG Ruin on LCS struggles: “My main problem was communication”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
It’s safe to say that Counter Logic Gaming struggled in the Spring Split. The 10th-place team saw some improvement halfway through the season with the addition of mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park, but it was a little too late. Now that they’ve had time to practice together a bit more and improve their communication, Hyeong-min “Ruin” Kim told WIN.gg CLG might even beat Cloud9 this summer. Maybe. CLG came in …
igNar promises FlyQuest won’t be “easy win” for Cloud9 in summer
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Going into the LCS Spring Split, not many League of Legends fans had high hopes for FlyQuest. It didn’t take long for analysts and viewers alike to see just how wrong their predictions were. FlyQuest ended up tied for second with Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves at the end of the split before making a run through playoffs behind eventual champion Cloud9. But that wasn’t enough for Dong-geun “igNar” Lee. …
Sneaky thinks latest marksmen and ADC buffs make no difference
William Davis
League of Legends
Former Cloud9 AD carry Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi is not completely sold on the latest buffs for marksmen that came through with LoL patch 10.11. Streamer and cosplay extraordinaire Sneaky had some thoughts about the buffs in patch 10.11 and whether or not these changes would make a big difference for marksmen. Solo queue players have been complaining about the state of marksmen since the offseason when Riot Games changed the …
Riot Games’ $11 million to support underrepresented gaming communities
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has pledged to donate $1 million to fight against inequality and racism in North America, president Dylan Jadeja announced. The Riot Games Social Impact Fund will make initial contributions to The Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Innocence Project works in favor of the wrongly convicted individuals by providing DNA testing and working of reforms for the criminal justice system. The ACLU protects the rights …
LCS broadcast loses Ovilee ahead of 2020 LCS Summer Split
William Davis
News
The LCS broadcast just lost a key member of its team. Hostess and interviewer Ovilee May has revealed that she won’t part of the LCS broadcast in the upcoming 2020 LCS Summer split. May, who’s represented by United Talent, shared the announcement through her personal YouTube channel. May didn’t detail the exact circumstances of the departure from the broadcast, but clarified that she will continue to work with the LCS …
Hauntzer, Closer, FBI talk Damonte and the LCS teams they’re targeting
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Golden Guardians finished sixtth in the Spring Split, falling short in the playoffs. But with a new roster and a new focus, the Golden Guardians squad is looking forward to a more successful Summer Split. WIN.gg chatted with Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell, Can “Closer” Çelik, and Victor “FBI” Huang about their goals for the LCS Summer Split and which teams they’re looking forward to beating. How has practice been? Hauntzer: Scrimming’s …
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.
