Since its launch, League of Legends (LoL) has undergone a long period of development and growth. LoL can confidently assert itself as the national Esports game. Worldwide, the number of players of LoL is continuously increasing. Along with that, at international LoL tournaments, regions like South America and Oceania have also seen representatives competing.
At the recent World Championship (2022), LoL continued to record new milestones in viewership for matches. Notably, matches involving Faker always attract the most attention from the LoL community. This is understandable as Faker remains an irreplaceable brand. Additionally, DRX’s “miraculous journey” has drawn even more attention to LoL.
Recently, the CEO of Riot has further ambitions, alongside the annual MSI and World Championship. Specifically, in an interview with L’Équipe, Riot CEO Nicolo confirmed that they (Riot) are working on organizing a national-level LoL tournament. Nicolo also confirmed that Riot has contacted representatives from Paris and Los Angeles (the cities hosting the upcoming Olympics) but there has been no significant progress yet.
Many opinions suggest that this would be a tournament akin to the “World Cup of LoL.” However, several community concerns have been raised. First, there is the absolute dominance of the LPL and LCK regions compared to the rest of the world. Additionally, the question of who will operate such a large tournament is also an issue, as Riot is just a game publisher. Not to mention, managing Esports on a World Cup scale would be complex and require maximum transparency from the leadership.
As of now, LoL still lacks many international tournaments compared to other names in the Esports scene like DOTA 2, VALORANT, etc. However, organizing a national-level tournament will require thorough discussions within Riot and then with the leaders of various countries. This is because the tournament will not merely be between teams, but will also represent entire nations.