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Team Liquid reportedly puts Doublelift’s contract up for trade League of Legends Team Liquid reportedly puts Doublelift’s contract up for trade By Olivia Richman TFT patch 10.8 adds new galaxies and gives a massive buff to Soraka League of Legends TFT patch 10.8 adds new galaxies and gives a massive buff to Soraka By William Davis League of Legends fans discuss Garena Vietnam’s shady practices League of Legends League of Legends fans discuss Garena Vietnam’s shady practices By Olivia Richman
Riot is discussing future of Valorant esports with teams, organizers News
Riot is discussing future of Valorant esports with teams, organizers Steven Rondina Valorant’s closed beta has generated an overwhelming amount of hype through the Twitch drop system. But what happens after that? Riot Games gave some early details of its plans for Valorant esports. Though Riot has set the standard for intense publisher control of competition with League of Legends, the publisher seems to be looking more at the systems used in games like Counter-Strike and Dota 2 when it comes to …
Valorant developers announce new Ranked Mode coming to closed beta League of Legends
Valorant developers announce new Ranked Mode coming to closed beta Olivia Richman Riot Games has announced that Valorant will have a new Ranked Mode in the near future. Just a few days after the closed beta was released, developers are already looking into making some big changes. One of those changes is the addition of a Ranked Mode after closed beta participants have continuously complained about the matchmaking system. One player took to Twitter to ask Riot if they were going to …
LoL patch 10.8 brings big changes to the jungle, buffs solo kills League of Legends
LoL patch 10.8 brings big changes to the jungle, buffs solo kills William Davis League of Legends patch 10.8 has arrived! The most recent patch brings massive changes to the experience granted by kills and targets champions with the most presence in pro play. On the cosmetic side of the game, patch 10.8 adds Coven Morgana, Coven LeBlanc, Coven Zyra, and Coven Zyra Prestige Edition. All of the new skins will be available on April 16. Patch 10.8 has something for everyone, starting with …
Valorant anti-cheat could be a serious security risk for players League of Legends
Valorant anti-cheat could be a serious security risk for players gabhernandez Popular gaming and tech YouTuber Mutahar Anas, who runs the YouTube channel SomeOrdinaryGamers, has released a video about how Valorant’s anti-cheat engine could be a security or privacy risk to consumers.  Riot created a new anti-cheat engine called Vanguard that must be installed in order to run the game. In the video, Anas claims that the game has a kernel anti-cheat drive, vgk.sys, that runs every time the player’s computer …
Valorant players debate if Raze is OP, shroud and summit weigh in League of Legends Valorant players debate if Raze is OP, shroud and summit weigh in By Olivia Richman League of Legends fans not impressed with ESPN2 LCS broadcast League of Legends League of Legends fans not impressed with ESPN2 LCS broadcast By Olivia Richman G2 Esports survives in 2020 LEC playoffs, eliminates Origen League of Legends G2 Esports survives in 2020 LEC playoffs, eliminates Origen By Nina Forneloza
FQ igNar on potential LCS final vs Cloud9: “I think we can beat them.” League of Legends
FQ igNar on potential LCS final vs Cloud9: “I think we can beat them.” Olivia Richman FlyQuest beat Team SoloMid in a back-and-forth five match game in the Spring Split semi finals this weekend. The win knocked TSM out of the playoffs and put FlyQuest on a tough road to face Cloud9 in the finals. But first, they’ll have to face Evil Geniuses once again, a team they lost to recently. WIN.gg spoke with Lee “igNar” Dong-geun about the win, how they plan to take down …
Team SoloMid knocked out of 2020 LCS Spring playoffs by FlyQuest League of Legends
Team SoloMid knocked out of 2020 LCS Spring playoffs by FlyQuest William Davis Team SoloMid has been knocked out of the 2020 LoL Championship Series Spring playoffs by FlyQuest. The season is over for TSM, as the team fell in the second round of the playoffs against FlyQuest in a series that went to game five. FlyQuest is facing Evil Geniuses one more time for the last spot in the finals. FlyQuest is showcasing greatness in the playoffs. In the series against TSM, …
Cloud9 annihilates Evil Geniuses, reaches 2020 LCS Spring finals League of Legends
Cloud9 annihilates Evil Geniuses, reaches 2020 LCS Spring finals William Davis Cloud9 defeated Evil Geniuses and is now heading to the finals of the 2020 LCS Spring Split. Evil Geniuses’ master plan failed in the semifinals against a Cloud9 that looks stronger by the minute. Cloud9, the perennial second-place team, is on the road to get its first title since 2014. Evil Geniuses was supposed to be a challenge for Cloud9, but the semifinals turned out to be a one-sided affair. …
Fnatic beats MAD Lions, qualifies for 2020 LEC Spring Split finals League of Legends
Fnatic beats MAD Lions, qualifies for 2020 LEC Spring Split finals William Davis Fnatic secured a spot in the 2020 LEC Spring Split finals with a decisive victory over MAD Lions. Fnatic is the first team qualified for the finals in the LEC. On Saturday, the series in the upper bracket between Fnatic and MAD Lions was decided in three games. Fnatic walked away with the victory and will have to wait one week before knowing its final opponent for the season. Fnatic …
League of Legends players debate: Is saying “GG” now toxic? Olivia Richman News Every League of Legends player has been there. The other team wins that big team fight, kills Baron, and your team is left retreating. It seems like a lost cause, so you type “GG” in the chat. You stop feeling so tense and decide you’re not going to push yourself when it’s a lost cause. This might be toxic behavior, according to some League of Legends players. The community came …
Valorant bans first cheater just after closed beta begins Steven Rondina League of Legends Cheaters have already found their way to Valorant, and Riot Games has already started stamping them out. Valorant developers took to Twitter to discuss how they had issued the first ban in the game’s history to an unnamed player. “Well it sucks, but today we had to ban our first cheater, and it looks like more bans are on the horizon,” Riot anti-cheat lead designer Paul Chamberlain said. “I was …
Cloud9’s Reapered wins 2020 LCS Spring Coach of the Split award William Davis League of Legends Cloud9’s Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu is the 2020 LCS Spring Coach of the Split. Cloud9 keeps collecting awards. After its players claimed every spot on the season’s All-Pro Team, it was Reapered’s turn to get recognition as Coach of the Split. Reapered is the coach with the most season awards in the LCS since the pivot to a franchising system. The Korean coach received this recognition previously in 2018 and then again …
LoL fans raise $6 million for charity through Riot Social Impact Fund Olivia Richman League of Legends Riot Games announced today that its latest in-game charity fundraiser collected $6 million for the Riot Games Social Impact Fund.  Partnered with ImpactAssets, Riot Games formed the Social Impact Fund in 2019, a “unique philanthropic venture” that allows the League of Legends developer to make direct investments into a variety of global organizations “aimed at solving some of the world’s most pressing issues.” Riot Games head of karma (Social Impact) …
Valorant breaks viewership records on Twitch with beta key drops gabhernandez League of Legends Valorant is off to a very, very strong start. April 7 saw the launch of the tactical shooter’s closed beta and fans looking for a beta key flooded Twitch streams in hopes of getting one. This saw Valorant shatter Twitch’s single-day viewership record within hours. The first-person shooter is anticipated by fans of a number of major esports titles including League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Overwatch. Valorant set …
TSM edges past 100 Thieves in lower bracket of LCS Spring playoff William Davis League of Legends Team SoloMid defeated 100 Thieves and is advancing to round two of playoffs in the 2020 LCS Spring Split. TSM knocked 100 Thieves out of playoffs after five games. The action-packed series was so close that it all came down to a single play in game five. 100 Thieves had a rough start in the playoffs against Cloud9 and had a second chance against TSM. TSM started its playoffs run …
LoL and Valorant are now the most watched games on Twitch William Davis League of Legends Valorant is breaking viewership records after only one day in its closed beta. Hours into its debut, the newest title by Riot Games broke Twitch’s single-day hours watched record for a single game. Valorant registered a 1.7 million concurrent viewer peak, dethroning Fortnite’s World Cup for second place in the streaming platform’s history. The number one spot is occupied by the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, which had 1.74 …
The LCS playoffs are coming to television on ESPN William Davis League of Legends The remainder of the 2020 LCS Spring Split playoffs will be broadcast on ESPN television networks, the LCS revealed through Twitter. Starting on April 11, the LCS games are coming to ESPN2. The deal will run through April 19 when the LCS will crown a new spring champion. The full schedule goes as follow: April 11, Evil Geniuses vs. Cloud9, 3pm CT April 12, FlyQuest vs. Team SoloMid, 3pm CT …
Tfue calls Valorant “boring,” says it’s a game for “old people” Olivia Richman News More negative reviews are coming in for Valorant, Riot’s new FPS title. The closed beta for Valorant has begun, allowing more pro gamers and streamers to get their hands on the game and make their opinions known to their followers. The latest content creator to have a strong opinion on Valorant is Turner “Tfue” Tenney. The Fortnite star wasn’t too excited about the gameplay. In fact, he said that he …
Riot dispels myths about Valorant key drops, cracks down on sellers gabhernandez League of Legends Today, Riot Games released a blog post discussing the launch of Valorant’s closed beta, and what the company has learned from day one. The closed beta period has begun for Riot’s new shooter, and everyone is itching to get their hands on the game. To get into the beta, players need to follow three simple steps: Sign up for a Riot account Link that account with a Twitch account Watch …
WildTurtle on TL missing LCS Spring playoffs: “That’s inexcusable” Olivia Richman League of Legends FlyQuest had quite the convincing win over Golden Guardians in the 2020 LCS Spring Split playoffs. The 3-0 victory knocked GG out in the quarterfinals, ending their season. Now, FlyQuest are waiting to see who they will face in the semifinals this weekend.  WIN.gg spoke with Jason “WildTurtle” Tran over Discord after the match to find out what has made them such a strong team and how they think they …
What is Valorant? Everything you need to know about Riot’s shooter Steven Rondina League of Legends Valve and Riot Games have had a rivalry for almost a decade now, but while that rivalry has largely played out between their respective MOBA titles, things are starting to heat up even more. That’s because Riot Games is set to release its own tactical shooter, Valorant. Valorant is Riot’s answer to the longtime king of the genre, Counter-Strike, and it’s a game that already has huge momentum behind it. …

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.