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How virtual band K/DA launched an EP in a pandemic
Riot Games explains how the tracks, AR performance and social media campaigns were put together.
Virtual influencer Seraphine is the latest 'League of Legends' champion
The 'starry-eyed songstress' is a mage with musical abilities.
'League of Legends' mid-season tournament canceled due to COVID-19
Riot delayed the Mid-Season Invitational from May to July in a bid to keep it on this year's schedule.
'Death Stranding' and 'Control' lead Game Awards nominees
The Game Awards takes place in less than a month and voting is now open after Geoff Keighley announced the nominees. Hideo Kojima's sprawling epic Death Stranding leads the pack with nine nominations, including game of the year, game direction, score/music, narrative and performance for both Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen.
What to do when everything on their holiday wish list is digital
The following scenario will play out thousands of times this holiday season, and if you're buying a lot of presents for friends and family, it'll likely affect your life personally. You: What do you want for the holidays? Them: The new Akali skin for League of Legends! You: I can get you some Riot Points, but I can't wrap them. Anything else? Them: The Staccato Shotto for Fortnite! You: Same problem. Them: How about Luigi's Mansion 3? Here, just download it on my Switch. You: Ugh. With the advent of living, online worlds and digital-first storefronts, plenty of gamers' wish lists include intangible items like cosmetic upgrades, fresh weapons, extra characters and new games. Gift cards make it easy to hand out in-game currency for most major titles, and download codes mean you don't even have to put on pants to pick out a present. However, white elephant gift exchanges are pretty boring when everyone passes around nondescript envelopes. Even in the modern online age, there's something deeply unsatisfying about giving someone a fully digital present. Luckily, there's a way to give your friends and family all the in-game goodies they want and also provide something to unwrap, all without buying extra presents. It's craft time, baby.
Echo Fox loses its pro 'League of Legends' franchise spot
Riot Games has announced that it will cut Echo Fox from its League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) after an incident of racism by a member of its ownership group went unaddressed. As part of an agreement between Riot and Echo Fox, LCS will sell the vacant slot and "provide the bulk of the proceeds from the sale to Echo Fox."
'League of Legends' adopts Overwatch League-style premium eSports pass
League of Legends isn't just one of the biggest games on the planet, it's perhaps the most popular eSport too. Starting with the upcoming Summer Split of the League Championship Series (LCS) and European Championship (LEC), Riot Games will offer a way to watch matches from pros' points of view, and see everything they do, including mouse clicks and keystrokes.
'League of Legends' might be coming to smartphones
League of Legends might eventually take up residence on fans' iOS and Android homescreens. Developer Riot is said to be working with parent company Tencent on a mobile version of the ultra-popular MOBA.
How Riot rebranded its European esports league
Esports is growing up. The stages and broadcast packages are becoming more glamorous to entice viewers and traditional advertisers. Teams are investing heavily in merchandise, coaching staff and training facilities. Players, meanwhile, are commanding higher salaries, forming unions and cultivating personal brands that might help them thrive once they "retire."
League of Legends World Championship returns to NA in 2021
Today, Riot Games announced the regions that will host the League of Legends World Championship for 2019, 2020 and 2021. Following the grand final at the Incheon Munhak Stadium this weekend, the tournament will travel to Europe in 2019. The exact locations of the play-in, group, quarterfinal and semifinal stages are unclear, but Riot has confirmed that the finals will be held at the AccorHotel Arena in Paris. The competition will then move to China in 2020 and North America in 2021. No cities or venues have been confirmed for these two regions, unsurprisingly. For Riot, this is an unusually early announcement.
A ‘Dota’ veteran’s take on ‘Arena of Valor’ for Switch
I've been playing multiplayer online battle arena games -- better known as MOBAs -- for the best part of two decades. First it was Dota, back when the game was still a custom Warcraft III map. Steam tells me I've sunk over 2000 hours into Valve's Dota 2, and I must've spent at least another few hundred hours dipping into both League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm. MOBAs are a genre I could never see working on consoles -- controllers just don't have enough buttons, nor do thumbsticks have the precision of a mouse. And yet I just spent a significant slice of my weekend completely glued to Arena of Valor, a port of a mobile MOBA that was released on the Nintendo Switch last week.
Is Riot spending less on professional League of Legends?
Three days ago, League of Legends owner Riot confirmed that it wouldn't be sending English commentators to the early stages of Worlds in South Korea. Instead, casters will be covering the games from Los Angeles, likely inside the NA LCS (North American League of Legends Championship Series) studio. Riot's official NA and EU interviewers, Ovilee May and Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere, will be in attendance. But unlike previous years, US commentators won't be casting from inside South Korea until the finals. The move has worried some fans.
It's peak esports season: Here's how to watch the games
Happy esports season! Summer is the ideal time to sit back (with a glass of lemonade in one hand and a burrito in the other in an air-conditioned room) and watch the best video game players in the world battle it out for millions in prize money. However, diving into this digital world can be daunting, since each game has its own schedule and unique set of rules. Here we offer a handy viewing guide for upcoming matches in five major esports titles: Overwatch, League of Legends, Fortnite, Arena of Valor and Call of Duty. It's nearly championship time for most of these games, so matches are primed to be extra exciting. Sit back, take a big ol' bite of that burrito, and watch some esports with us:
Fans are mad at one of the biggest 'League of Legends' teams
Winning a professional League of Legends title is tough. Keeping fans happy, one esports organization has learned, can be even tougher.
What happens when a pro 'League of Legends' game crashes?
Riot Games ran into an unexpected snag during the North American LCS (League of Legends Championship Series) yesterday. The MOBA crashed partway through a match between Clutch Gaming and Echo Fox, kicking all 10 players out of the session. After a lengthy pause, Riot ruled that Echo Fox had won the match, pushing the team to joint first in the summer split standings. The decision was made because Echo Fox had claimed seven towers (Clutch Gaming, meanwhile, had zero) and a substantial gold lead before the game crashed 32 minutes in. A Clutch Gaming comeback was unlikely, though fans of the organization are still understandably pissed.
ESPN+ will stream live 'League of Legends' tournaments
ESPN+ is a great option for streaming sports without the need for cable. And now, if you're more into jungling than free throws or penalty shots, the service has something for you as well: live League of Legends tournaments, including net month's North American Championship Series Summer Split, according to Variety. The broadcasts start June 16th, and matches will stream live on the app on weekends.
'League of Legends' finals head to Oakland's Oracle Arena
The North American League of Legends Championship Series has a home for its summer finals... and you'll definitely recognize it. Riot Games has announced that the Summer Split finalists will play on September 8th and 9th at Oakland's Oracle Arena -- you know, the home of the Golden State Warriors. This isn't completely surprising when the Warriors are an affiliate of the league's Golden Guardians team, but it's still rare for regional eSports competitions to get such a prominent venue.
Riot revamps EU 'League of Legends' circuit to retain pro players
Riot overhauled its North American League of Legends eSports championship to give pros a better reason to stick around, and now it's mounting a similar effort for Europe. The EU division of the League Championship Series has instituted a slew of reforms that should ensure more sustainable careers, most notably an end to relegation and promotion. There was a lot of turnover when teams knew they could fall from grace -- this lets them spend more time and money on players to create "lasting connections" with fans. In other words, a rookie with promise won't get cut just because their team had a rough first season.
Red Bull built an underground eSports bar in London
London's Red Bull Gaming Sphere has everything you would expect from an eSports venue: neon-strewn PCs, large TVs, chunky headsets and the latest Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles. But this isn't a stadium designed to compete with the Gfinity Arena or ESL's Studio 1 in Leicester. There are no seats, for instance, beyond a few cube-shaped blocks scattered in front of a 190-inch wall-mounted TV. It's something else, a strange hybrid of eSports arcade and Twitch-friendly streaming studio. The hardware inside is undoubtedly impressive, but on opening night, few are sure what it's actually for.
Two major eSports players associations are in the works
There are two players associations being put together for professional competitors who play Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Sports Business Journal reports. The latter will include players in the ESL Pro League and the FACEIT ECS league and is being helmed by eSports broadcaster Scott "SirScoots" Smith and attorney Michael Doi. Smith told Sports Business Journal that the Counter-Strike Professional Players Association (CSPPA) won't be seeking to become a US union since Counter-Strike players span the globe but it is looking to sign the over 225 players that participate professionally. "Every day I sign another guy," he said. "I would say 70 or so have signed an official membership document that they are for the players association, are behind the players association, they want to be in the players association."
