The 2019 League of Legends World Championship is quickly approaching. And with the upcoming championship Riot have started to slow down on updates for the game. But the slowdown doesn’t mean that the game won’t be seeing any big changes anytime soon.
In a blog post, John Needham, the head of global esports at Riot shared his vision for the future of LoL Esports. He revealed that Riot will be getting more into the entertainment side of the game which would include easily accessible content, bigger live stages for events and support for regional leagues. Riot will try to make the overall experience more “memorable” for spectators and “…will stop at nothing to ensure the world recognizes that League of Legends is the premier global property in esports, sports and entertainment” likewise.
Riot also talked with several professional teams and players over the past few months for feedback and the view of everyone centred around 3 main goals only i.e.
- Building on games pinnacle position of professional competitive gaming.
- Bringing-in Young talent that will choose League of Legends and aspire to be part of the ecosystem.
- Keeping the game fair, inclusive and encouraging sportsmanship which will have a community-wide positive impact.
In the post John said:
“In 2020, we’ll be more accessible to fans in every corner of the globe, support our growing regional leagues, and stage the biggest and most innovative live esports events the world has ever seen.”
Riot will be doing this by focusing more on the programs that will entertain longtime viewers and bring in new fans from far places. John pointed out that live performances such as K/DA at Worlds 2018 resonated extremely well with fans and was appreciated globally.
But this doesn’t mean that competition side will go down rather it will still be priority #1 for Riot. John also hinted about the upcoming changes to the game that will be released consecutively in updates after the World Championship 2019.
Riot has also added various partners such as Mastercard, Alienware, State Farm, Nike, Coca-Cola, Honda, Secretlab and so on that will be helping them with their plans for 2020 and beyond.
