League of Legends
League of Legends
LCK reportedly returning soon after coronavirus shutdown
William Davis
The 2020 LCK Spring Split will be returning soon as an online event. According to a report by ESPN, the LCK will play the rest of the season online and will be back in action “by the end of March.” The update comes 10 days after the league went on hiatus due to the coronavirus threat. Earlier this month, Riot Games Korea announced that the LCK would be stopping once the …
League of Legends
Doublelift reunites 2016 TSM roster for fans hit by coronavirus
gabhernandez
With the coronavirus outbreak putting the LCS and LEC Spring Splits on hiatus for the indefinite future, pro players and casters are keeping League of Legends fans entertained by hosting in-house matches. For the LEC, Christy “Ender” Frierson led the way. He and personalities like Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere hosted a makeshift event for the community. Well-known European pros like Ramsus “Caps” Winther and Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau competed in the casual …
League of Legends
Team Liquid coach Dodo: “I’m not faulting Doublelift at this point.”
Olivia Richman
It’s a tough time for Team Liquid. The LCS was postponed and the team’s facilities were closed for the next 30 days. But Liquid is the type of team that professes to never give up. They always want to be the best, even during tough times like these. WIN.gg spoke with head coach Kang “Dodo” Jun-hyeok about the hardships the team is facing, and more importantly, how TL plans to come back …
League of Legends
The 2020 LPL Spring Split is back, but is this the right approach?
Olivia Richman
After a long delay, China’s League of Legends Pro League returned. The threat of the coronavirus had the LPL postponed at the start of the Spring Split, leaving many to wonder if they would ever catch up to the LEC and LCS. The 17 teams, including 2019 World Champion FunPlus Phoenix, had all attempted to travel back home after the announcement and it seemed like the LPL probably wouldn’t begin any …
League of Legends
LEC Spring Split suspended due to coronavirus fears
William Davis
The LEC confirmed on Twitter that the 2020 LEC Spring Split has been suspended until further notice, effective immediately. The decision came after the LEC discovered that one staff member was exposed to the coronavirus. At this time, it’s a developing situation and the LEC is yet to confirm the status of the staff member. According to host Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere, no player or team was in direct contact with the affected …
League of Legends
Team Liquid closes esports HQ due to coronavirus outbreak
Olivia Richman
Los Angeles-based esports organization Team Liquid has stated that its facilities will be closed for the next 30 days and remain closed until further notice. Neither organization staff nor members of Team Liquid’s pro teams will be allowed into the facility. Founder Steve Arhancet announced the decision on Twitter, stating that it was their way of prioritizing the health and safety of their staff and players. While their teams will still …
News
Doublelift flames team and coaches in deleted Gafford interview
Olivia Richman
“It’s now the day after Week 7 of the LCS. I’m joined by Doublelift for act two of a Doublelift interview. You reached out to me last night and requested a reshoot of this and maybe we can provide context on why.” That was Hotline League host Travis Gafford’s first statement on his March 11 interview with Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, an interview that would soon cause a heated debate between …
League of Legends
The LCK goes into hiatus with Gen.G at the top of the standings
William Davis
Round one in the 2020 LCK Spring Split is over and the standings are looking exactly as expected. Earlier this week, the LCK announced that it would postpone the activities due to the coronavirus outbreak. With the first round of the season over, the LCK is going into a hiatus effective immediately. It remains unclear if Riot Games Korea is planning on transitioning into an online format like the LPL. …
Doublelift has returned to LCS with Team Liquid, but still struggles
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid’s bottom laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng had an underwhelming return to the 2020 LCS Spring Split. After being benched for three games, Doublelift returned to the stage, but it didn’t go as he or his fans expected. Team Liquid is closing the week with two defeats and is currently tied in seventh place with Golden Guardians. In the match against Immortals, Doublelift was a non-factor. Through the laning phase, …
Riot reveals new date for Mid-Season Invitational, cancels Rift Rivals
Olivia Richman
News
Riot Games announced that the League of Legends 2020 Mid-Season Invitational will now take place in July. The official announcement came Tuesday morning. Fans had been waiting to hear a new date since Riot tweeted that the event would be postponed mid-February due to the spread of the coronavirus. Fans had grown frustrated with the silence in the weeks since, wondering if the event might be cancelled. Now, Riot Games …
Valorant to use unique anti-cheat, new Vanguard system to fight hacks
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Cheaters are an unfortunately normal part of the online gaming experience. Whether it’s map hackers or aim bots, people find ways to get an unfair advantage over the competition and it’s the game’s publishers who are the ones tasked with combating this. Riot Games’ Valorant will have very different concerns on this front than its first title, League of Legends. With that in mind, the company is working on its …
100 Thieves’ Ryoma: “We need to start punishing mistakes more”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
100 Thieves dominated Immortals on Sunday, its second win of the weekend. This saw the team jump from seventh place in the LCS standings all the way up to fourth. Despite going 2-0, the team was hard on itself, and focused on mistakes. Tommy “Ryoma” Le told WIN.gg what it would take to finally satisfy the team that keeps chasing perfection in the 2020 LCS Spring Split. How are you …
FlyQuest coach: “We feel we can go to Worlds 2020 with these players”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
FlyQuest had a rough weekend, losing to Team SoloMid on Sunday but at 8-6, the team is still tied for second in the 2020 LCS Spring Split. WIN.gg spoke with FlyQuest’s head coach Anand “Curry” Agarwal about why he loves working with the FlyQuest roster, his strengths as a coach, and what it will take to make it to Worlds 2020. Were you expecting this outcome today? Curry: Definitely wasn’t expecting to …
Team SoloMid breaks Cloud9’s winning streak in 2020 LCS Spring Split
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid ruined Cloud9’s perfect record in the 2020 LCS Spring Split. Week 7 in the LCS started with a major upset as TSM handed Cloud9 its first defeat of the season, doing so in convincing fashion. Both teams came into the match in very different states. On one side, Cloud9 was an unstoppable force in the LCS that was seemingly positioned to complete a perfect season. On the other …
G2 Wunder debuts top lane Janna in LEC victory over Fnatic
William Davis
League of Legends
Soraka and Sona got nerfed, so G2 Esports played the next best thing: Janna in the top lane. In a match against Fnatic, G2 showed the next support flex that could take over the top lane, Janna. The pick was piloted by Martin “Wunder” Hansen. Janna in the top lane works like other supports in the top lane. Janna can harass her opponents in through the laning phase and brings utility …
CLG Wiggily says Team Liquid was “caught off guard, big time”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Counter Logic Gaming had a good day. They defeated Team Liquid, bringing their record to 3-10. Yes, they’re still in last, but that’s not what matters, as Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin told WIN.gg after the victory. New midlaner Eugene “Pobelter” Park became Player of the Game, thanks to breaking the Spring Split record of highest kills. He went 11-1-0 in the match against Liquid, including a triple kill that left the …
100T Meteos says “Focusing only on Worlds is really, really wack”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
A close back and forth battle between 100 Thieves and Dignitas finally resulted in 100T breaking the tie for sixth place in the LCS. For William “Meteos” Hartman, this was a possible turning point for his team, who he feels is continuing to improve each week. Meteos sat down with WIN.gg to talk about their victory and why the Spring Split always matters no matter the format. How are you …
LEC changes location of 2020 LEC Spring Split final for coronavirus
William Davis
News
Riot Games is changing the location of the 2020 LEC Spring Split final amid the covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. In some bad news for the Hungarian fans, Riot canceled the 2020 LEC Spring Split final in Budapest due to the coronavirus threat. The LEC is hosting playoffs all the way to the grand final at the LEC Studio in Berlin, Germany. According to the announcement, the developer believes that it’s better …
LCS week 7 to promote Active Minds’ mental health awareness campaign
gabhernandez
League of Legends
The LCS is entering into a partnership with Active Minds for week seven of the 2020 LCS Spring Split. The news was announced on the Riot Games’ official Twitter account. Active Minds is a US-based nonprofit organization focusing on mental health awareness and education. In its partnership with the LCS, Active Minds will be presenting the mental health stories of League of Legends professionals between games during week seven. The …
Faker breaks record for the most kills in the LCK with 2,000
William Davis
League of Legends
T1 superstar mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has become the first LCK player to reach 2,000 kills. T1 and Faker are closing the first round of the 2020 LCK Spring Split on a high note. The mid laner is the first player in the LCK to get 2,000 kills. Faker reached the milestone in the series against Afreeca Freecs on March 5. Faker made his debut in the professional stage in …
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.
