Is Riot making League of Legends faster to please China?

Nicholas James Published 21/10/2021

League of Legends has evolved for over a decade, and many fans have complaints about the amount of damage that has more recently been built into the game. With the new runes system, new items, and new dragons, Riot has slowly been adding a lot of extra passive damage to League of Legends games the world over. As games continue to feel faster than ever, is Riot catering to the tastes of one region over the other? Content creator HuzzyGames alleges that is the answer, per a Riot event he attended.

HuzzyGames released a 45-minute long video detailing a Riot Dev event ahead of Preseason 2022. In it, he describes one question in particular about damage creep in League of Legends and the regional preferences that led to it. In response to a question about the amount of damage in the game, Riot allegedly confirmed that regional preferences for game length and style vary wildly, but that China prefers quick and bloody games with plenty of room for outplays and kills. That’s supposedly the reason Riot gave for why there’s so much extra damage being added to the game.

Riot’s Chinese League of Legends player base takes priority

While HuzzyGames says this “isn’t the answer he wanted,” it’s not unsurprising. China’s player base utterly dwarfs every other region with millions upon millions more players being added in recent years. In addition, the majority holder in Riot is the Chinese gaming giant Tencent. Not only is China Riot’s largest market for League of Legends, but it’s also the largest market for its owner. HuzzyGames links this directly to the upcoming Preseason’s new dragons and many of the game’s other recent changes.

In the end, Huzzy says it’s unsurprising that Riot chooses to prioritize the largest group of players available. Despite it supposedly catering exclusively to China’s tastes, many players are still excited about the preseason changes coming to Summoner’s Rift. The preseason will arrive on patch 11.23.

Nicholas James

About Nicholas James

Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.

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