COLEGIUL NAȚIONAL „NICOLAE BĂLCESCU”

ATESTAT DE COMPENTENȚĂ LINGVISTICĂ

LIMBA ENGLEZĂ

PROFESOR ÎNDRUMATOR: CANDIDAT:

1
League of Legends

2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Motivation…………………………………………………………………………….......page 4

Chapter 1

What is League of Legends?................................................................................................page 5

Chapter 2

The rise of League of Legends’ popularity……………………………………………….page 15

Chapter 3

The eSports scene…………………………………………………………………………page 21

“Putting it all in a nutshell”……………………………………………………………….page 27

Webliography……………………………………………………………………………..page 28

3
 Motivation

The popularity of video games has drastically increased over the last years thus becoming more
and more prevalent in the pop culture. Ranging from references on TV or advertisements in the
streets to word of mouth, the gaming industry appears so frequently in our day to day life that I
have decided to write my paper on one of the most popular video game out there: League of
Legends.

Released in 2009, LoL revolutionized the world of gaming and also the eSports scene by being
the first online game whose tournament had been broadcasted live on an American Television
,which was ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network), and watched by over 27
million unique people. Moreover, its popularity is not only present in U.S.A. but in countries all
over the world including South Korea, Japan, China and even Vietnam.

But how did it reach such a high level of recognition? How did it become the giant that is
nowadays? Some say that it is because of the entertainment it provides, others attribute this rise
to the fact that it is free and compatible with every PC. What is certain is that ever since its
release, League of Legends has grown to become the most popular game in the world and with
millions of gamers logging in every month from over 145 countries, it shows no signs of giving
up the top spot.

Another subject that I am going to approach is the revenue that League of Legends, as a free
game, brings to the founding company Riot Games. Like a fine wine, this 10 years old game only
seems to get better and better profit each year of which number is in 10 digits.

In addition to all of these, one more thing that influenced me in my choice is my experience with
the game. I have been playing this game for over 6 years and I believe that I accumulated a vast
knowledge about it. So without further ado, I think it is time we began this presentation.

4
 Chapter 1

Development

The game's developer Riot Games was co-founded by Brandon "Ryze" Beck and Marc
"Tryndamere" Merrill, who were roommates while they attended the University of Southern
California. They partnered with Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, the previous designer of the
popular Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne custom map Defense of the Ancients, and Steve
"Pendragon" Mescon, the administrator of the former official support base for the map, to
develop League of Legends.

The idea of a spiritual successor to Defense of the Ancients was that it would be its own stand-
alone game with its own engine, rather than another mod of Warcraft 3, began to materialize at
the end of 2005. League of Legends was born "when a couple of very active DotA community
members believed that the gameplay was so much fun and so innovative that it represented the
spawning of a new genre and deserved to be its own professional game with significantly
enhanced features and around-game services."

Riot Games officially opened its office in September 2006, and, as of 2013, has over 1,000
people working on League of Legends.

League of Legends was first announced on October 7, 2008. It was in a closed beta from April
10, 2009 to October 22, 2009. It then transitioned to open beta until release.

Picture 1: League of Legends’ predecessor Defense of the Ancients-2003

5
 Release

League of Legends was released on October 27, 2009.  Riot Games self-publishes and operates
the game and all of its customer service aspects in North America. Riot Games has signed deals
regarding the distribution of League of Legends in Asia, Europe, and North America. By July
2013, the game has been released and was distributed in Australia, the United States, Canada,
Europe, Philippines, and South Korea.

The game is distributed in China by Tencent Inc., the largest Internet value-added services
company in China. The game has been distributed to Tencent's growing 300 million Internet user
base through its leading QQ Game portal. The deal was one of only a handful of partnerships to
bring a U.S.-developed online game directly to China.

In Europe, Riot Games initially signed an international licensing partnership with GOA, the
video games department of Orange's Content Division and Europe's largest gaming portal. On
October 13, 2009, GOA and Riot announced that they would start channeling server access for
players located in Europe to GOA's dedicated servers. This partnership did not last; on May 10,
2010, Riot Games announced that they would take over distribution and operation of the game in
Europe. To do so, Riot Games established a European HQ in Dublin.

On 16 July 2010, Riot Games announced that Garena would publish the game in Southeast
Asia. Additionally, Southeast Asian players had the ability "transfer accounts" to import their
progress stored in North American or European servers into the Southeast Asian server. The
game has since been distributed by Garena in Taiwan as well.

In March 2013, Riot Games released a beta version of an OS X client in addition to their
Windows client. The Mac client was since moved out of beta and OS X / macOs players have
had full access to League.

Riot has since expanded to many countries, after the initial North America / Europe / Korea /
Garena's Southeast Asia launch. In 2012, a Brazilian and Turkish server were added; in 2013,
Latin American & Russian servers; and a beta of a Japanese server was launched in 2016.

Picture 2: Riot Games’ logo

6
 Gameplay

League of Legends is a fast-paced, competitive online game in which two teams of powerful
champions, each with a unique design and playstyle, battle head-to-head across multiple
battlefields and game modes. With an ever-expanding roster of champions, frequent updates and
a thriving tournament scene, League of Legends offers endless replayability for players of every
skill level.

In all game modes, players control characters called champions, chosen or assigned every match,
who each have a set of unique abilities. Champions begin every match at a low level, and then
gain experience over the course of the match to achieve a maximum level of 18. Gaining
champion levels in matches allows players to unlock their champion's special abilities and
augment them in a number of ways unique to each character.

If a champion loses all their health, they are defeated, but are automatically revived in their base
after enough time passes. Players also begin each match with a low amount of gold, and can earn
additional gold throughout the match. This gold can then be spent throughout the match to buy
in-game items that further augment each champion's abilities and game play in a variety of ways.

The purpose of each match is to destroy the enemy nexus which can only be reached by
breaching into the enemy base using your so called champions and their particular abilities.

Picture 3: Official fan art of champions fighting in League of Legends

7
 Game Maps

Despite the fact that League of Legends consists of three maps, the most popular and played one
is named Summoner’s Rift thus this being the first explained.

Summoner’s Rift

On this map type, two teams of five players compete to destroy an enemy building called a
Nexus, which is guarded by the enemy team and a number of defensive structures called turrets,
or towers. One nexus is located in each enemy base on opposite sides of the map, in the lower-
left and upper-right hand corners.

These structures continually create

weak non-player characters known as
minions, which advance toward the
enemy base along three paths: top,
middle, and bottom lanes. Players
compete to advance these waves of
minions into the enemy base, which
allows them to destroy enemy
structures and ultimately win the
match.

Between lanes are neutral areas of the

map known as the 'jungle', arrayed in
four quadrants.

A shallow river divides the map

between the teams, but doesn't actually
impede movement; all champions can
wade through it no differently than dry
land.
Picture 4: Oversimplified Summoner’s Rift

8
 Picture 5: River in question

Each team wishes to defend their own structures and destroy the other team’s structures. These
include:

 Turrets – Each lane is guarded by powerful defensive structures called turrets. Turrets
deal exceptionally high damage and will attack enemy minions and players that approach
them. When destroyed, turrets provide gold and experience. Turrets that are destroyed are
destroyed permanently for that match and will not respawn.
 Inhibitor – Each lane contains one Inhibitor. A lane’s Inhibitor can be attacked after a
team has destroyed the three turrets guarding its lane. If destroyed, inhibitors will
respawn after five minutes.
 Nexus – Each team has a Nexus that can only be damaged once all the turrets in a lane
and that lane’s inhibitor is destroyed. Destruction of the enemy’s team Nexus ends the
game.

Pictur
e 6: Turrets guarding Nexus

9
Some objectives are ‘neutral’, meaning that they will not attack champions who pass by, but
champions can choose to pick a fight with them if they wish to gain a reward at the cost of
having to fight for it. They include:

 Jungle monsters – Neutral monsters spawn at various intervals in the Jungle, and provide
the player with gold, experience, and sometimes other rewards for killing them. They are
the most common neutral objective.
 Elemental drakes/Elder Dragon – Elemental drakes are powerful monsters located in the

bottom half of the river. All members of the team that kills the drake are provided with
buffs that last the entire game and accrue cumulatively. The drakes are flavored after
the Four Elements, with each drake granting a thematically appropriate buff. A random
elemental drake will respawn six minutes after the previous one is killed. The Elder
Dragon spawns instead after 35 minutes have passed in-game. When killed, it provides a
stronger buff than an individual elemental drake, but it wears off with time, unlike the
earlier drake rewards.

Picture 7: Said Dragons

10
 Rift Herald – The Rift Herald is a powerful enemy located in the upper side of the River.
Killing the Rift Herald allows it to be summoned again as a battering ram to attack enemy
towers. This monster will never respawn after it is killed.

 Baron Nashor – Baron Nashor is the most powerful neutral enemy, located in the upper
side of the River. It will spawn after twenty minutes, replacing the Rift Herald. All living
members of the team that kills Baron Nashor are given a buff which makes nearby
minions more powerful. Baron Nashor will respawn seven minutes after it is killed.

Pictur
e 8: Rift Herald

11
 Picture 9: The mighty Baron Nashor

Twisted Treeline

In the Twisted Treeline, two teams of three players compete to destroy the opposing team's
Nexus, which is guarded enemy Turrets. It is conceptually similar to Summoner's Rift, but
smaller to account for three vs. three rather than five vs. five. Rather than Summoner's Rift 3
lanes of turrets and 3 inhibitors, Twisted Treeline has only 2 lanes and 2 inhibitors, with the
jungle in between.

The other differences are the addition of two "Altars", control of which grants the occupying
team a variety of bonuses, and the replacement of Baron Nashor with Vilemaw, an evil spider
deity. Living members of the team that slays Vilemaw are granted a temporary bonus, similar to
the death of Nashor.

Howling Abyss

The Howling Abyss is used for "ARAM" (All Random All Mid) matches, and is five vs.
five. The difference between the Abyss and the other maps is that there is only a single narrow
lane of Turrets and an Inhibitor, and no neutral jungle area. Thus, rather than skirmishes and

12
hidden movement, the Abyss focuses exclusively on large team-fights in the sole middle lane.
Players cannot return to their allied base to replenish health and mana or purchase items unless
they have been killed. ARAM was launched as an official mode in September 2013.

Pictu
re 10: The Howling Abyss

13
 The Revenue. How much money can a free to play game can make?

League of Legends might be free to play, but that doesn't stop it from making piles of cash every
single year. That’s right, one free to play game generates more revenue per year than many other
games companies with several releases under their belt. The question that probably pops into
your mind is: how?

Before we can work out how much money League of Legends makes, we first need to
understand their business model.

Thanks to the microtransaction model, League of Legends and similar games now generate their
creators billions of dollars a year. But what exactly are players buying and why?

RIOT'S BUSINESS MODEL

According to a post on the official Riot blog, Riot initially thought about releasing a boxed
version of the game that users bought and waited for an expansion pack. However, it became
clear that since it was an on-going game with no final boss or ending, this wouldn’t work.
Instead, Riot wanted an experience that improved every few weeks as opposed to one big update
per year. They also needed a way to pay for the servers, hosting and constant development costs
all year round instead of relying on people buying an expansion.

After brainstorming several ideas, they also looked at some type of monthly subscription model
to generate monthly revenue. Around the same time, World of Warcraft operated a similar
monthly subscription model and had over 11 million subscribers. Although Riot didn't want to
force players to pay, it helped them refine their final business model.

Finally, after lots of brainstorming Riot settled on a free to play model with optional purchases
for players. This type of model did several things. First, it allowed people to play and become the
best without having to spend anything.

MICRO-TRANSACTIONS

When people think of games with in-game purchases, they usually refer to them as “pay to win”.
This is when buying optional in-game extras give the player an advantage over free players. In
League of Legends, Riot wanted to make sure this wasn't the case at all. To stop this from
happening they made it so in-game items only provided cosmetic benefits. This means that paid
players don't receive any special buffs or advantages, they just look better.

The second benefit of the free to play method was that it allowed players to spend money
because they wanted to, not because they had to. Nobody wants to be forced into buying

14
something they don’t want to, just to complete a game. This completely takes the fun away and
makes it “pay to win”. Instead, Riot wanted to make it so players would want buy things and
help support the game’s development. This makes players feel good that they’re supporting the
game they love and the purchases stay with them forever.

By not forcing players to purchase things they don’t want to, Riot hoped that this business model
would pay off massively. And it did!

CALCULATING THE PROFITS

Riot’s free to play business model has helped them generate billions of dollars over the course of
the past several years. In fact, Riot hit the headlines in 2014 as they were just $36 million shy of
hitting the $1 billion milestone in revenue. According to a report from PC Gamer, Riot made an
impressive $964 million between January and September in 2014 putting them number 1 on the
highest grossing game list.

Compared to their competitors like DOTA 2, League of Legends was clearly in front. In the
same time frame DOTA 2 generated only $136 million which is a far cry from LoL’s $964
million. Around this time it was evident that their free to play model was working. If anyone
ever had any doubts over them making money, they sure didn’t now.

Fast forward to the present, and League of Legends is still breaking records. In 2015 League of
Legends pulled in $1.6 billion in revenue for Riot, confirming their place on the top of every
highest grossing list. Around the same time, DOTA 2 brought in revenues of $238 million which
was still nowhere near the number 1 MOBA.

Since 2015 the statistics have gone quiet and neither Riot or Valve have released earnings
regarding their MOBAs. If we had to take a guess, then we’d probably place League of Legends
close to the $2 billion mark while leaving DOTA 2 around the $500 million level. League of
Legends has experienced solid growth on growth for several years now. If they managed $1.6
billion 3 years ago, then an extra $400 mill should easily be manageable

A new report detailing which free-to-play PC games earned the most revenue in 2017
ranks League of Legends  as the most profitable game with over $2 billion generated. Moreover
the chart showing the rankings of free-to-play PC games shows just how dominant League of
Legends still is over other games with the next game in line coming in second place with several
million dollars less than League earned.

So how much money does League of Legends make? Billions! And it looks like that number
isn’t going down any time soon.

15
 Chapter 2

Right place, right time or planned success?

Like pretty much every other success story, it is good timing and a lot of luck. When League of
Legends was first released in 2009 its model was completely different to all other games on the
market, and if you had told most people that it would grow to become the most popular free to
play game ever then they would likely have laughed at you.

Traditionally players would buy a game for a flat fee. Some MMO games would charge players a
monthly subscription to cover server costs and development for updates. Some games would
release paid DLC, but it was a foreign concept to give a game away for free. After all, the
purpose of a company is the make money.

Mobile games were starting to become big around this time, and games like candy crush claim to
be ‘free to play’ but actually fall under the ‘pay to win’ category. This means that players who
put real money into the game gain an unfair advantage over players that don’t.

To make League of Legends popular their team ensured that players would not gain an
advantage by putting money into the game. Their system consists of a currency called Riot
points, which players can get for an exchange rate with real cash. This can be used to unlock new
champions (although these can be unlocked through playing the game), kit out their favourite
heroes with new skins, or unlock summoner icons and ward skins.

The appeal of a free to play game draws plenty of people in which makes it extremely popular,
however many players end up spending more money on skins than what they would pay for in
membership fees! This truly free to play model is part of the reason as to why League of Legends
is so popular. If you are bored and want to play a new game it’s easy to download and try out. 

Another reason this free to play model is so popular is because many people are hesitant to try a
game out, fearing that they won't like it and end up 30 dollars down. With League of Legends
however, people can play a few matches to see if they like it or not and then share it with their
friends without pressuring them into buying it. This caused a huge spike in popularity during the
games release, and since then its popularity has only continued to grow.

16
 The Community

League of Legends’ player base has grown year on year to become one of the most played games
in the world. The most recent figures show that League of Legends has an active player base of
over 80 million monthly players. Or over 27 million players every single day.

Ever since its release back in 2009, League of Legends has grown to become the most popular
game in the world. With millions of gamers logging in every month from over 145 countries,
League of Legends shows no signs of giving up the top spot.

Down to the winning formula of constant updates, new champiions, and gaming tournaments, the
develops Riot have managed to produce a highly addictive game.

But just how popular is League of Legends and how many people play it? To answer your
question, I have searched through statistics and data to find you a definitive answer. Here is what
you need to know. Riot, the developer of League of Legends, holds the key to how many people
play the game. Since they own the game, it’s only Riot who can give you the most reliable
figures.

2011 - 11.5 MILLION

To give you an idea of how many people

play League of Legends and how much it
has grown, we need to go back to 2011.
Way back in 2011 Riot released an official
press release on their website stating the
number of players at the time.  At the time,
League of Legends had:

5 million registered users

5 million monthly players

2 million daily players

3 million peak concurrent players

Picture 11: Official infographic

17
2012 - 32 MILLION

Pictu
re 12: Infographic showing peak concurrent players

Fast forward less than 12 months and Riot released another statement on their website. This
statement also included another infographic that similar to the last one compared several of the
key player base statistics. The infographic showed that at the time (November 2012) League of
Legends had:

70 million registered users

32 million monthly players

12 million daily players

3 million peak concurrent players

Comparing these player statistics to the previous ones from 2011, in less than 12 months League
of Legends had pretty much doubled every figure. With 32 million monthly players, they had
almost tripled their monthly player base in less than a year. For an online video game these
figures are unprecedented, never before has an online game had so many active players. For Riot,
this was a huge success for a game that had been around for 3 years. For them, it looked like
their hard work was paying off.

18
2014 - 67 MILLION

Unlike before, a few years passed before Riot released any new player base statistics. Although
they did tease us in 2013 when they celebrated 5 million concurrent players, they didn't release
any other player figures until 2014.

This time Riot released a statement only on their website highlight the key changes in player
statistics. The statement showed that League of Legends had:

67 million monthly players

27 million daily players

7.5 million peak concurrent players

Although Riot didn't release as much information as before it was still apparent League of
Legends was still growing. It had taken a lot longer than previously, but Riot had managed to
double their monthly and daily players bringing the total monthly players to 67 million. To think
that only a few years ago, they had 11.5 million, it was a massive increase.

2016 - 100 MILLION

Since 2014, Riot hasn’t released any new official statistics on their website just yet. Based on
their last release in 2014, it looks like they’ve slowed it down to an update every 2 years or so.
This is probably because it takes such a long time for a significant number of new players to join.
After all, they only want to share the really good news!

Although Riot themselves have not released any new player base statistics just yet, there has
been some interesting speculation on the latest figures. Articles from both the RiftHerald
and Forbes both point towards a new monthly player base figure of 100 million active monthly
players. While these statistics sound great, it's best to wait until you hear the same figures from
Riot.

19
 League of Legends streamers

Being played by so many people, it is not a surpise that some of the best players would capitalize
by streaming their games. Nowhere are these people on more prominent display than on Twitch
and YouTube, where top tier skill is not merely a draw – it is a prerequisite. Beyond just being
good at the game, the best League streamers offer something more to their viewers, whether it is
a learning experience, a place to unwind, a channel for community interaction, a look into the
competitive LoL world, or just some unhinged, irreverent entertainment.

Imaqtpie
You don't make $2 million a year by streaming unless you are the very best, and Michael
"Imaqtpie" Santana puts on arguably the finest League show out there. Decked out in his
signature gym shorts and white t-shirt combo, Michael is one of the most instantly-recognizable
figures in the scene, and his stream fluctuates between hilarious solo queue fiascos and high-
level gameplay that you could actually learn from. Pair that with Imaqtpie's hand-picked playlists
that lean toward deep-cut trap music and oldschool
rap, and you have got an ideal place to while away a
couple of hours.

Not only does the former Team Dignitas star boast the
top-tier skills it takes to churn out constant highlight
reels, he is funny enough to make his daily 10-hour
streams feel as smooth and natural as, well, sitting
with your funniest friend and playing LoL.
Picture 13: Michael “ Imaqtpie” Santana

At 25-years-old, those qualities have earned Santana much in the way of conventional success: a
gorgeous house in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he lives with his long-time partner and fiancée
Lisha Wei and their three pets, Smallcat, Mellowcat, and Dapperdog.

Picture 14: Proof of 37 thousand people watching Imaqtpie

20
 Doublelift

Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng is one of the the most famous League players to ever do it, known
widely for his skills on carry ADC champions like Vayne and Lucian. Even though Doublelift's
heightened braggadocio is fun to watch, you don't necessarily watch him for his charisma:
instead, it's the absolutely bonkers kiting skills and precision play that make him worth checking
out. Just watch his mouse in the middle of a teamfight, watch him bounce his camera back and
forth between critical parts of the battlefield, and you'll know why he's the real deal.

Since Doublelift has been playing at the pro level for quite some time, expect regular cameos
from other top players like his former support Vincent "Biofrost" Wang, William "Scarra" Li
(also on this list), and even his teammate from way back in the day Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black.

Picture 14: Doublelift in a tournament

21
 Chapter 3

What is eSports?

Electronic sports, or eSports, are a term for organized competitive gaming at the highest
professional level. The most popular video game genres associated with eSports include but are
not limited to: real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooters and multiplayer online battle
arenas.

League Championship Series

The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) is the name of two professional League of
Legends eSports leagues run by Riot Games. Twenty teams compete in two separate
competitions in Europe and North America, with ten teams per continent. Each annual season of
play is divided into two splits, spring and summer and conclude with play-off tournaments
between the top six teams from each region respectively. At the end of the season, the winner of
the summer split, the team with the most championship points, and the winner of the gauntlet
tournament in each league qualify for the annual League of Legends World Championship.

The LCS represents the highest level of League of Legends play in Europe and North America.
The European League of Legends Championship Series (EU LCS) has a promotion and
relegation system similar to that found in many other European sports, such as football: The
bottom teams in the EU LCS from each split compete with the top teams from the European
Challenger Series (EU CS) to compete for spots in the next split of the EU LCS. The European
Challenger Series is composed of six teams: three teams which failed to advance in the previous
promotion tournament, one team from the previous EU CS split, and the top two teams from
ranked ladder play in the public League of Legends online game server.

Picture 15: LCS Logo

22
The North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) has a franchised
league, consisting of 10 teams. However, even franchised teams can still be expelled from the
NA LCS for poor performance. Contrary to the EU LCS, this does not happen through a
promotion and relegation tournament against the top teams from the secondary league, and
expelled teams are unable to re-enter the NA LCS.

With the exception of some touring events, all games of the LCS are played live at Riot Games'
studios in Adlershof, Berlin, Germany and Los Angeles, California, United States. In addition to
a small studio audience, all games are streamed live in several languages on Twitch.tv,
YouTubeand Azubu, with broadcasts regularly attracting over 300,000 viewers.

Pic
ture 16: Team Fnatic vs Team Origen in one of said studios

The popularity and success of the LCS has attracted significant media attention. On September
30, 2016, the French Senate unanimously adopted the last version of the Numeric Law,
significantly improving the visa process for LCS players and eSports athletes in general, giving a
legal frame to eSports contracts, introducing mechanisms to ensure payment of cash prizes,
specifying rights for minor eSport athletes, and more. A few months before, France also
introduced a new eSports federation, “France eSports”, which has the duty to be a representative
body of eSports towards the government and serve as a “partner of the French National Olympic
and Sports Committee for all matters relating to the recognition of electronic sports as sport in
itself.” The US government is also granting athlete visas for LCS competitors. The first LCS
player to be awarded a P visa was Danny “Shiphtur” Le.

23
 The history

Riot Games launched League of Legends in October 2009 and rapidly attracted attention from
the competitive gaming community. The first two seasons of competitive play consisted of a
series of tournaments mostly organised by third parties, such as Intel Extreme Masters in Europe
and Major League Gaming in North America, capped by a world championship tournament
hosted by Riot Games.

Riot Games announced the formation of the LCS on 6 August 2012, creating a fully professional
league run by the company with a regular schedule and guaranteed salaries for players, featuring
eight teams in both North America and Europe. Since the LCS was only launched in the third
year of professional play, it was immediately dubbed "Season 3". The top three finishers in both
the Riot Games European and North American regional championships held in August 2012
automatically qualified, with the remaining five teams being decided in qualifier tournaments
held in January 2013. Each LCS season is divided into two splits for spring and summer; the first
games of the first spring split took place on 7 February 2013 in North America and on 9
February 2013 in Europe.

Season 3 of the LCS finished with the summer split playoffs, held on 23 to 25 August in Europe
at the Gamescom in 2013, which was held in the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rine-
Westphalia, Germany, and 30 August to 1 September 2013 at PAX Prime 2013 in Seattle,
Washington in North America. In Europe, the Fnatic finished first, Lemondogs second, and
Gambit Gaming third. In North America, the top three finishers were Cloud9, Team SoloMid,
and Team Vulcun. The top three teams from each continent advanced to the Season 3 World
Championships.

Riot Games changed naming conventions in 2014, calling the season the "2014 Season" instead
of "Season 4". The League of Legends Challenger Series was created as a second tier of
competition for promotion and relegation.

At the end of the 2014 season, an expansion tournament was held in both Europe and North
America that added two teams in region, giving the LCS a total of 10 teams per region for the
start of the 2015 Season. Additionally, Riot introduced the concept of "Championship points",
which teams would earn based on performance across both splits and playoffs in order to qualify
for the World Championship.

A new sale of sponsorship rule was instated for the 2015 season. As a result, several teams were
forced to rebrand and leave their respective parent organizations. Europe's Alliance and North
America's Evil Geniuses are both owned by GoodGame Inc. CEO Alex Garfield, and thus their
League of Legends teams left and became Elements and Winterfox, respectively. Curse Inc.

24
could no longer sponsor LCS team Team Curse, thus the entire esports organization merged into
Team Liquid.

The 2015 Summer European LCS Finals were played at Hovet Arena, Stockholm. The series
ended with Fnatic winning 3-2 over Origen and peaked at close to 1 million concurrent viewers
on twitch.tv, Youtube, and Azubu - the highest number of viewers for any LCS match to date.
North American LCS finals were played at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where
Counter-Logic Gaming defeated Team Solomid in 3 games to secure their first regional
championship. Though NA LCS summer finals were typically held previously at PAX West in
Seattle, this would be the start of the split finals being held in various locations around North
America.

P
icture 17: Hovet Arena, Stockholm

The 2016 Spring European LCS finals were held at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, with G2
winning 3-1 against Origen, making it their first LCS title. The 2016 Spring European LCS split
was the first time G2 played in the professional LCS after having been promoted due to winning
the European Challenger Series and European Promotion Tournament in Summer 2016. The
North American LCS finals were held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas,
featuring a rematch from the last split's finals, with CLG repeating as LCS champions over TSM
in five games.

The 2016 Summer European LCS finals were played at the Tauron Arena in Kraków, Poland. G2
won 3-1 against Splyce and secured their second LCS title. Splyce would later win the 2016
Summer European Gauntlet and qualify for Worlds as the third-seeded European team. The NA
LCS finals were played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which was the

25
first time an official NA LCS match was played outside of the US. TSM would defeat Cloud 9 to
secure their record fourth title.

The 2017 Spring European LCS finals were held at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg,
Germany, where G2 won 3-1 against Unicorns of Love, securing their third LCS title and
qualifying for the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), an annually-held international League of
Legends competition. G2 placed second at the MSI 2017, losing 1-3 to SKT T1, the Korean
representatives, in the finals. The North American Finals were held at Pacific Coliseum in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; The second consecutive time that the final match was
held in Canada. TSM would once again hold onto its title by defeating Cloud 9 for the second
finals in a row.

Picture 18 : Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany

Pi
cture 19: Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

26
 League of Legends World Championship

The League of Legends World Championship is

the annual professional League of Legends
world championship tournament hosted by Riot
Games and is the culmination of each season.
Teams compete for the champion title, the 70
pounds (32 kg) Summoner's Cup and a US$10
champion prize.

In 2017, the finals were watched by 60 million

people, breaking 2016's finals' viewer
record.The tournament has been widely praised
for its ceremonial performances, while receiving
attention worldwide due to its multiple dramatic
and emotional series, and SK Telecom T1's
tributary moments. A donation of US$2 million
were also raised through the sales of Worlds
2017 Championship Ashe skin, reaching out to
different charities and receiving
commendations.

Picture 20:The Summoner’s Cup

LA 2024, which is overseeing the Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics was inspired
by the growing success of League of Legends World Championship and is considering to plan
and include eSports in the Olympic Games if they win the bid. Casey Wasserman, the chairman
of LA 2024, suggested using technology used in certain segments of League of Legends Worlds
such as augmented reality and virtual reality to make the Olympics more accessible to a younger
demographic.

The League of Legends World Championships has gained tremendous success and popularity,
making it among the world's most prestigious and watched tournaments (surpassing even
conventional sports tournaments), as well as the most watched video game in the world. Due to
its success, eSports scenes became prominent and widely seen as a potential Olympics event,
already being included as a medal event in 2022 Asian Games.

27
 Conclusion

Started by 2 visionary roommates who were passioned by multiplayer games, League of Legends
is one of the behemoths that are dominating the gaming industry nowadays and shows no signs
of declining in popularity. The game is designed to be played by both milions of people all
around the world and by those 0.1% who make it to the big scene competing for the big prize.

In spite of the fact that it is free and no purchase made in game can advantage the players, its
revenue can top most of the companies,with few exceptions, thus encouraging the developers to
further improve the experience and not give up on it.

Moreover, its international popularity makes it so you can discover other cultures, which you
may never be able to come into contact otherwise, and also improve your English by chatting
with your teammates or enemies, who are never the same.

What we know for certain is that League of Legends will continue its growth and expansion and
entertain people for years to come.

28
Webliography :

http://caseking-gaming.com

http://comicbook.com

http://cs.leagueoflegends.wikia.com

http://esports.eldesmarque.com

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com

http://surrenderat20.net

https://en.wikipedia.org

https://euw.leagueoflegends.com

https://nytimes.com

https://riftherald.com

https://rollingstone.com

https://thegamersports.mundodeportivo.com

https://unrankedsmurfs.com

29