Draw sets the stage for first-ever FIFA eNations Cup
FIFA announces participating countries and Host City for inaugural FIFA eNations Cup
The next level of eFootball - FIFA introduces the FIFA eNations Cup
KiNG eSports crowned new FIFA eClub World Cup champions
2019 LoL Champions Korea Spring Media Day
Qualified Teams confirmed for the FIFA eClub World Cup 2019
2018 LoL KeSPA Cup Finals Event
FIFA and EA SPORTS unveil new FIFA 19 Global Series Rankings
FIFA and Electronic Arts reveals EA SPORTS FIFA 19 Global Series on the Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup 2019
FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 Grand Final Reaches Record Global Audience
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Alibaba’s WESG Oceania Esports Event Comes to PAX Aus 2018
World Electronic Sports Games will come to the PAX Arena stage at PAX Aus 2018, taking place 26-28 Oct. in Melbourne, VIC. WESG is the international esports championship tournament organized by Alibaba Group’s AliSports. Partnering with Australian Esports League, this year marks its first foray into Australia, bringing together the best in the region to compete in Dota 2, CS:GO, Hearthstone, and StarCraft 2. The online events will commence on 1 Sept., with competitors playing Dota 2, CS:GO, StarCraft 2, and Hearthstone. Select matches will be broadcast in the lead up to PAX Aus, where the top two teams in Dota 2 and CS:GO will compete on stage at PAX Arena in a grand final match. WESG at PAX Arena will also hold open qualifiers for the Hearthstone finals in November. Anyone is welcome to compete, with winners progressing on to the finals in Sydney where they can play for a $30,000 prize pool and a chance to represent the region in China where they play for a share of $US5.5 million as part of the global series. PAX Aus first hosted the PAX Arena esports stages in 2015, and since then, has partnered with the likes of Red Bull, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Hi-Rez, and McDonald’s to deliver high-quality competitive play to thousands of attendees. “The growth of esports in the APAC region has been nothing short of meteoric,” said Luke Lancaster, Content Manager, PAX Aus. “This partnership with AliSport sets up PAX Arena as a truly international event, and we couldn’t be more excited.” “We chose PAX Aus as the home for WESG because of the community,” said Darren Kwan, executive producer at the Australian Esports League. “There’s no better way to bring Australian audiences into the fold than by offering up world-class matches at PAX Aus.” PAX Aus is produced by ReedPOP in conjunction with Penny Arcade. The show was the first international PAX event and has brought passionate gaming communities together in Melbourne since 2013. PAX Aus attendees get to experience the best in gaming culture with more than 180 exhibitors, thousands of playable games, and more than 150 hours of on-stage content.
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Msdossary Crowned FIFA eWorld Cup Champion
After three days of intense drama and excitement, the FIFA eWorld Cup™ Champion has been crowned, with Mosaad ‘Msdossary’ Aldossary taking home the title following a 4-0 aggregate victory over Stefano ‘StefanoPinna’ Pinna at The O2 in London. Following a journey involving more than 20 million participants taking part in the Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018, ‘Msdossary’ from Saudi Arabia overcame ‘StefanoPinna’ from Belgium in a clinical performance that saw two of the world’s top competitive FIFA gamers go head-to-head in The Final Showdown. Having already secured a 2-0 victory in the first leg, ‘Msdossary’ showed his class and finished off the tie with a masterful tactical display in the second leg, which resulted in a repeat 2-0 victory. In front of a live audience at The O2 in London, the Final Showdown provided a dramatic end to an exciting three days of competition. The 32 Grand Finalists, from 19 countries, battled it out for the US$250,000 top prize and an exclusive invitation to The Best FIFA Football Awards™ in London on 24th September 2018. Speaking about becoming FIFA eWorld Cup™ Champion, Mosaad ‘Msdossary’ Aldossary said: “This win makes up for all the hard work and dedication me and my team have put into this. It is fantastic to see competitive FIFA gaming grow, but this is nothing I could have ever imagined. Winning the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final and becoming World Champion is a dream come true for me, my friends, family and supporters. To get the opportunity to win in front of a live audience this big is absolutely unbelievable. I am truly lost for words in this moment.” As the pinnacle event of the year for competitive FIFA gaming, the FIFA eWorld Cup™ Grand Final was the culmination of the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series – a new format introduced this year that included international online and live events around the world. The 32 Grand Finalists qualified through the FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs held between the 28 May - 3 June, all with the hopes of being named the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 Champion and taking home the top prize. Speaking about the tournament, Jean-Francois Pathy, FIFA Director of Marketing Services, said: “The FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final 2018 provided an outstanding opportunity to drive forward the professionalization of competitive FIFA gaming. “This year’s landmark event has experienced advanced levels of growth and has played a key role in engaging new players, fans and audiences on both digital and traditional platforms. As the wider ecosystem continues to develop, FIFA gaming is playing a key role in encouraging more young people and the wider public around the world to play football- either virtually or in person. “I would like to thank all our partners for their support, particularly EA SPORTS, who play a significant role in the success and further development of football through competitive FIFA gaming.” Todd Sitrin, General Manager and Senior Vice President Competitive Gaming Division at EA SPORTS adds: “The truly global nature of the Global Series, in combination with our inclusive approach to making competitive gaming accessible to all players, has moved from strength to strength this season. We are seeing the enormous potential of competitive FIFA coming to life, and we are extremely excited about continuing this momentum next season.”
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FIFA and Electronic Arts announce London as location for FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final 2018
FIFA and Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) announced that London will host the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final 2018, virtual football's equivalent of the FIFA World Cup from August 2-4. The FIFA eWorld Cup is where the dreams of millions of FIFA players become the reality of one champion. At the FIFA eWorld Cup, 32 finalists – all of who will have qualified for the event through the EA SPORTS™ FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs – will compete for the ultimate Grand Prize: the FIFA eWorld Cup title. As well as claiming a life-changing cash prize, the winner will also receive a trip to the Best FIFA Football Awards™. The road to the Grand Final in London will see 128 players compete in the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs in Amsterdam from May 28-30 and June 1-3 and will determine who will participate in the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final in London. More than 20 million have competed in the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series and only one will eventually become world champion of the world’s game at the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final 2018. The Global Series brings an increased international community of both players and spectators to the competition through partnerships with top-tier football leagues, football clubs, football brands and premier esport organisations. The Hyundai A-League, eDivise, MLS, J-League, La Liga, eLigue 1, Russia Premier League and Bundesliga have all hosted EA SPORTS FIFA 18 tournaments and competitions. In addition, the long-standing EA Champions Cup played on FIFA Online 3 is now one of the Asian qualification arms for the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series, meaning that players from various territories in Asia will travel to the upcoming playoffs in Amsterdam for the first time. Only 32 players will advance from the playoffs – 16 per console – to the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final. Speaking about FIFA’s partnership with EA FIFA’s Chief Commercial Officer Philippe Le Floc'h said: “Our partnership with EA has elevated competitive FIFA gaming into a worldwide phenomenon that combines the power of football with the spectacle of entertainment in astounding ways. Of course, 2018 is a landmark year for global football with the FIFA World Cup taking place in Russia and a landmark year for competitive gaming ending fittingly at the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 London, one of the most historic football cities in the world.” SVP and GM of EA Competitive Gaming Todd Sitrin said: “The FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final 2018 will be a signature moment for competitive FIFA after a season-long journey that has engaged millions of players and spectators. In partnership with FIFA, we accelerated the growth of competitive gaming through the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series, rallying the global football community together within this singular ecosystem.” For more details on the entire EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series see www.FUTChampions.com or www.fifa.com/fifaeworldcup.
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FIFA to hold eClub World Cup at AMP Studios Paris
FIFA will hold this year’s eClub World Cup at AMP Studios, Paris, France from 19-20 May.The competition is an inter-club electronic football tournament, with 16 professional eSports teams competing, and is part of EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series on the Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup, virtual football's equivalent of the FIFA World Cup. In order to qualify for the FIFA eWorld Cup, players must first compete in the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series, which the FIFA eClub World Cup is part of. Participants in the eClub competition came from eSports teams around the world, and took part in online qualifications to secure their places in Paris. A total of 32 players will compete at the AMP Studios. eSports teams participating in the FIFA eClub World Cup not only compete for a total prize pool of US$50,000, but also for four qualification spots in the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs. At the playoffs, 64 players on Xbox One and 64 players on PlayStation 4 will fight for their places at the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 Grand Final. The two-day FIFA eClub World Cup event will offer content production opportunities with club players and officials to all media outlets present. In addition, video and photo footage will be made available after the competition for editorial use. For audio-visual content and event footage from last year’s FIFA Interactive Club World Cup click here. Please note that you acknowledge the VNR terms of use by publishing any of the footage provided.
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Twitch Partners with SLIVER.tv to Launch Interactive “Tilted Trivia”
SLIVER.tv, the next-generation esports entertainment platform, is teaming up with social video service Twitch to feature a new Twitch Bits in Extension. The Tilted Trivia extension enables streamers to deepen engagement with viewers and enhance interactivity, while ultimately driving new revenue streams and rewards opportunities for streamers and viewers alike. SLIVER.tv’s Tilted Trivia game is now available to all Twitch streamers and will run 24/7 throughout Twitch as an overlay to streams. Users will be able to play live by contributing Twitch Bits, and compete by answering a variety of trivia questions tailored to the streamer and the game they’re watching. Upon launch, it will feature over 3,000 curated trivia including questions for general gaming, esports, and top games like Fortnite, League of Legends, CSGO, PUBG, Overwatch, GTA V and Hearthstone. The top 3 ranked participants will be announced live and featured on the streamer’s leaderboard for bragging rights on Twitch. “SLIVER.tv's platform is incredible. It allows my viewers to be much more engaged and invested into my stream. SLIVER.tv provides the ability to watch and win prizes by just doing what they would normally do,” said top Twitch streamer Erik ‘Fl0m’ Flom with over 18 million views and 340,000 followers. “What has me most excited for Tilted Trivia is that this same increased engagement will be directly brought into Twitch through the extension. A second added benefit is my viewers and the Bits they use directly support me while participating in the trivia and competing for the top of the leaderboards. All you have to do is enable the extension and let the fun begin." “As we built SLIVER.tv to over five million monthly visits, we learned that interactive trivia games are highly engaging and capture the attention of viewers,” said Mitch Liu, Co-founder and CEO, SLIVER.tv/Theta Labs. “Our users earn free virtual coins for prizes by watching streamers and actively participating in trivia, raffle contests and live polls, leading to session times that clock in at up to 40 percent longer. Tilted Trivia represents the next evolution of this engaging platform, and we’re excited to enable thousands of streamers to deepen their relationships with Twitch’s 100 million monthly active users.” Coming soon, all participants and winners of the Tilted Trivia game on Twitch will be able to claim Theta Tokens as rewards on the SLIVER.tv site. Up to 1.1 million Theta Tokens will be awarded each month to Tilted Trivia winners, which is worth more than $100,000 currently. Users will be able to use Theta Tokens to reward streamers, purchase virtual goods and much more. In the future, users will be able to earn additional Theta Tokens by sharing their bandwidth to re-broadcast video streams using a native blockchain protocol purpose-built for video.
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PUBG Pro Competition Stream.Me Invitational - Powered by Auzom Announced
Professional PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds teams will compete from March 9 to April 6 in the “Stream.Me PUBG Invitational - Powered by Auzom,” where they’ll vie for glory and the opportunity to win a share of $25,000 in cash prizes. The Stream.Me PUBG Invitational will host entrants from a total of 32 professional esports organizations. Competitors from the European Division will include Team Liquid, Alliance, Rogue, and Team Vitality, while the North American Division will feature talent from eUnited, Noble eSports, FlyQuest, and Spacestation Gaming. Additional team announcements will be made throughout the week prior to the action kicking off on March 9 live on Stream.Me. Tournament Schedule: Day 1 Matches March 9, 2018 EU 20:00 CET + NA 8:00pm EST Day 2 Matches March 16, 2018 EU 20:00 CET + NA 8:00pm EST Day 3 Matches March 30, 2018 EU 20:00 CET + NA 8:00pm EST Day 4 Finals April 6, 2018 EU 20:00 CET + NA 8:00pm EST The tournament will be hosted and broadcast exclusively via Stream.Me, a video platform that gives viewers the ability to simultaneously view multiple casters in up to 4K HD video running at 60 frames-per-second. Stream.Me also allows users to blend audio from several streams and combine chat rooms from various sources, granting audiences unmatched control over their experience with Stream.Me's built-in multi-channel and multi-chat options.
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SLIVER.tv Closes $20 Million Token Sale, Launches Esports Platform on Blockchain Powered by Theta
SLIVER.tv, the next-generation esports entertainment platform, announced the close of a $20 million (USD) Theta token private sale to marquee blockchain and esports experts including DHVC, I Blockchain Capital, Nirvana Capital, aelf, Synapse Capital and leading Silicon Valley VCs DCM, Sierra Ventures and the Venture Reality Fund. Led by Danhua Capital and advised by Steve Chen, Co-founder of YouTube and Justin Kan, Co-founder of Twitch, the private token presale had overwhelming interest and was 3x oversubscribed selling out in 48 hours. The company is also announcing that the Theta ERC20-compliant tokens launched in December 2017 on SLIVER.tv platform, attracting over four million visits in January from esports viewers around the world. Theta tokens are earned by fans for daily login on the platform, used as gifts for their favorite influencers, and soon, to buy virtual goods for their favorite games. Since launch, over one million Theta tokens have been earned and gifted to two dozen top esports streamers by over 980,000 SLIVER.tv users. In the future, tokens can also be utilized by advertisers and brand sponsors to fund ad campaigns and support key content creators. Theta tokens by Theta Labs, Inc., a subsidiary of SLIVER.tv, aims to solve today’s pain points of video content streaming and delivery through a decentralized, user-powered mesh network. Theta’s native blockchain and protocol is estimated to launch in late 2018 to provide higher quality streaming by increasing global reach in developing countries, lowering costs for content delivery for publishers and broadcasters, and helping content creators capture more of their advertising revenue. Users who share their bandwidth and resources to relay and re-broadcast video streams will be rewarded by mining Theta tokens. Embed Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW5Jz3xAXHc “We’ve been impressed working with Mitch and the entire SLIVER.tv team since we led the company’s Series A round of financing. It’s clear they’re on an exponential growth trajectory and getting huge traction in the esports streaming community, their underlying video delivery technology under development makes all this possible,” said Dovey Wan, Managing Director of Danhua Capital. “We’ve been in the crypto space since 2013 and are among the earliest supporters of DFINITY, Brave and Orchid Labs. Content delivery networks by nature can leverage decentralization and blockchain technology very well. Today’s blockchain technology is like the internet in 1996, I think Theta has the opportunity to become the dominant decentralized network that powers all video streaming for the next 20 years.” “Our vision is to create the next generation esports and video streaming ecosystem by democratizing today’s centralized content delivery networks,” said Mitch Liu, Co-Founder and CEO of SLIVER.tv and Theta Labs. “We’re thrilled to have the support of so many blockchain and esports experts, we truly believe blockchain technology will disrupt esports and the broader video and media industries. Video content accounts for nearly 80% of all internet data, it’s a huge problem and a multi-billion dollar opportunity that Theta is looking to democratize.” Theta Labs advisors include Steve Chen, Co-Founder of YouTube, Justin Kan, Co-Founder of Twitch, Fan Zhang, founding member of Sequoia Capital China, Rajeev Surati, MIT Phd in video compression and streaming, Cliff Morgan, CEO of GFUEL, Sam Wick, Head of UTA Ventures, and Dennis Fong, CEO of Plays.tv aka “Thresh” the world champion of Quake/Doom. Learn more by reading the Theta Labs whitepaper and reviewing Theta code at Github. Join the conversation on the Theta Labs blog and Theta Labs Telegram channel.
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Partnership for the Integration and Establishment of eSports 'TOKYO'
Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA), Japan Online Game Association (JOGA), the eSports organizations of Japan eSports Association (JeSPA), eSports Promotion Organization and Japan eSports Federation (JeSF), have previously announced on September 19, 2017 that we have joined forces in order to create a unified eSports association for the purpose of promoting industrial development, as well as the overall growth of eSports. The five organizations listed above are currently collaborating in an effort to consolidate all three eSports organizations, with the intent of establishing one unified eSports body. It is essential for this newly formed organization to develop firm standards and display them to society. Striving to be a driving force for the promotion and healthy development of eSports, we are presently working on creating regulations for issuance of professional licenses. At this time, we are pleased to announce that these 3 eSports bodies will be completely integrated by early next spring. Additionally, our newly formed organization will co-host with Dwango Co., Ltd. and Gz Brain Inc, game event “Tokaigi 2018”, which will be held jointly with “Japan Amusement Expo (JAEPO) 2018” in February 2018. At the upcoming “Tokaigi”, plans are being made to hold an eSports event in which professional licenses will be issued, for the very first time. Regarding the issuance of pro licenses, in addition to providing them to high-level players meeting the skill requirements, we are also considering adding a provision making it possible for athletes who have participated in past eSports competitions, to obtain pro license with the recommendation and approval from the publisher. It is our belief that such measures will ensure that fairness and diversity in the process to obtain pro licensing. We will keep you updated on any new developments.
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Spencer “GORILLA” Ealing crowned new FIWC Champion
England’s Spencer “GORILLA” Ealing was crowned the new FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) Champion this evening, after beating Germany’s Kai “DETO” Wollin in the Grand Final event at the Central Hall Westminster, London, with a score of 7-3 on aggregate. Spencer was presented with his trophy by European Champion and Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit, one of the EA SPORTS™ FIFA franchise’s most popular players and also part of Spencer’s winning squad. The Englishman also received a cheque for USD $200,000 and an invitation to attend FIFA’s annual awards ceremony The Best FIFA Football Awards in London on 23 October. Armed with the reputation as the best attacker in the history of FIFA, Spencer dominated the day to win England its first ever taste of gold-medal glory at the FIWC since 2005. The Englishman scored 46 goals over three days to win the world title. In a nail-biting final match Kai accumulated a 3-1 lead, but Spencer forced his way back, to ensure a 3-3 draw at the end of the PlayStation Leg. During the XBox leg, Spencer asserted his authority on his preferred console, racing into a two goal advantage before the interval. Despite a remarkable display of resilience from Kai, the Englishman (coached by Sean Allen who came second in last year’s FIWC Grand Final) created history and sealed a 7-3 aggregate victory in a match which saw the virtual Ruud Gullit score a crucial goal of the match, while the real Gullit sat in the audience watching with enthusiasm. “It’s absolutely unbelievable to have won this tournament. I think that to have won something of this magnitude is something that will change my life forever. Obviously the prize money is huge but for me it’s not about that, it’s about being the FIWC Champion and representing all of the people who have supported me to reach this point.” said Spencer. Over 7 million players over the course of an almost-year-long season attempted to qualify for the FIWC Grand Final but ultimately only one player was left holding the world trophy, local boy Spencer. Speaking about Spencer’s win Ruud Gullit said: “This has been a brilliant event for me to see the dedication and commitment that it takes to reach this level in eSports. For former players like myself, it’s very interesting to see ourselves in these games and to see how the gamers try to harness my style of play. As a football pundit whose job is to analyse matches, I saw how players are learning about strategies and tactics, and vice versa, through the FIFA series.“ The 2017 Grand Final is the thirteenth edition of the tournament. Over three days 32 of the best FIFA players in the world took part in group stages, quarter, semi-finals and finals on both PlayStation and XBox, culminating in the Grand Final between the two divisional champions. Following the event FIFA’s Director of Marketing Services Jean Francois Pathy said: “The FIWC is a phenomenal competition for FIFA as we can truly engage with a young, passionate and dynamic audience. It’s exciting for FIFA to play a leading role in developing the world of eSports and competitive gaming. We are looking forward to working with our partner EA SPORTS and the FIFA community to make our competition even bigger and better." The FIWC is an annual tournament organised by FIFA in cooperation with EA SPORTS. It is an official FIFA Tournament and the player crowned champion is considered by FIFA to be football’s virtual world champion. The tournament is hosted on the PlayStation and XBox networks and can be accessed via EA SPORTS FIFA 17. It has held a place in the Guinness Book of Records since 2010 as the largest gaming tournament in the world.
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Interview of Game Developers, Whalen Rozelle esports general director
Riot Games is trying many changes for adjusting balance of ‘League of Legends’, its strategic game. Especially ahead of 2016, by heralding a wholesale change, it makes users hope to see how the result of a change will be shown. Hence, we visited the head office of Riot Games during the event ‘League of Legends All-Star 2015’, and heard the story from the game developers about what will be changed. As the third, we talked about achievements of esports in 2015, the flow of 2016 and etc to Whalen Rozelle esports general director, in charge of managing esports. ▲ Talked to Whalen Rozelle director about achievements and flow of esports. Q1. First, what is a general review of ‘League of Legends’ esports for this year? This year was very good for ‘League of Legends’. Esports also had many developments, held the first MSI in this year, and several teams won victories in various regions. This year is judged as a positive year in attendance rate or ratings. Q2. What degree is the reputation of esports at the US and Europe have? There might be diffierence from Asia where esports already established, but recently the number of viewers is increasing and it marks a steep growth. Q3. What do you view as vital to esports being accepted into mainstream sports? Compared to tranditional sports, it is the fact that esports is still immature, but its growth rate is very fast. To be accepted as an official sport, we are working on making users watch competition at the real site or increasing liveview, since we think these will change recognition. However, rather than simply following official sports, we are working hard in establishing eco-system for constructing environment of esports. Having virtuous cycle relationship between player and investor would be a driving force behind fundamental development. Q4. Like this year’s MSI, is there anything being prepared for esports in the next year? It’s too early to tell a new event in the next year, and we will make a new plan after looking back on the last events. Apart from it, we keep investing for development of each region’s league. May be a league by region is not as attractive as a global event, it is a great chance to meet fans at the real site. Q5. The number of holding global competitions in separated regions is increasing, and where do you want the competition to be held? As you know, a big global event was held in several regions including Seoul, Europe was host to League of Legends World Championship in this year, but MSI was held in the US. Likewise, we think that opening a competition in various regions is a good thing for fans. Apart from existing four regions, we are seeking for some methods such as creating a new competition to cover newly growing countries including Brazil, Turkey, and Southeast Asia. Though I can’t mention specific regions, I am able to tell you that we are seeking the direction to meet fans in the region by visiting various regions. Q6. What is the reason of registering LCK trademark rights at the head office recently? I think you asked it due to many issues recently related to LCK, but there is a little difficult part to answer here. We are cooperating between head office and branch office, but I think it’s better to talk to someone in charge of local region esports. Q7. Unlike North America, Riot Games, KeSPA, and OGN form the third party consultative group in Korea. What difference exists when compared to Riot Games taking the lead? We can say that Korea is rather unusual case. It is the region strong in esports, and also the third party is organically combined. Riot Games is in situation of running around alone in other regions, but I think a synergy happens through cooperation of the third party in Korea. What’s more, if another partner exists in other regions, it will be advantageous for delivering good experience. Of course there might be some pros and cons of two wyas, Riot Games taking the lead and a consultative group formation, but I would say forming a consultative group is better as various opinions can be made. Q8. Users have a lot of interest in Riot Games’s investing amount in LCK, and how much is the difference when compared to LCS? Though investing amount varies based on timing, when looked at as a whole, the amounts are similar. As the parts requiring money are similar anywhere, there is no much relationship with the fact of the partner’s existence and nonexsistence. Also, basically, we want to avoid the situation of making more investment in a specific region, not a new region. For your information, while in the case of North America and Europe, invested for the coaching staff, we invested in different parts in Korea as the coaching staff already took place. When fans see this, they might think why only invested in one side, but what we are avoiding is carrying out the same investment into the regions having different growing rate. Q9. What do you think about the best method of providing an optimal coverage environment like what fans hope? It is difficult to answer certainly, and also we keep learning it. We had made a coverage for maximum 11 hours in the past, but it had been pointed out for many times that it’s too long. Therefore, we tried hard to shorten by 6 hours as it is today. Planning various experiments in North America, but we couldn’t find a clear answer. So, we always review the competitions even if they got positive results. Also, now is a special time. A form of consuming TV keeps changing, and online viewers are increasing so that it became easy to select the channel that a consumer wants. We are going to provide service focused on the change of broadcasting environment, and we are also considering a broadcasting method for fans, as they enjoy to participate rather than to watch. Q10. How important is esports to ‘League of Legends’? They are inseparable. Popularity of ‘League of Legends’ raises its profile in esports, and popularity gained from esports again raise interests in items and contents in the game. Q11. Are you considering making profit through esports? Many ideas are came out as esports develops, but I think a long-term growth as esports is more significant than creating an immediate profit. We could have more opened think of the ideas in the far future, but one thing’s for certain, hurting users’ experience such as making them pay to watch in a better quality will never happen. Q12. In North America and Europe, Riot Games is directly participating in producing broadcasts, and is there any plan to directly participate in Korea and other regions? Though it’s hard to give an answer confined to a particular region, in case of Korea, cooperation with the partner is already proceeding, and satisfied with producing a high-quality broadcast. As I answered to the earlier question, if there is a partner to show sufficient quality, I believe it’s better to work with a partner. ▲ Apart from investment, Whallen Rozelle commented that it’ll be better to be with a partner if it exists.
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Interview of Game Developers, Whalen Rozelle esports general director
Riot Games is trying many changes for adjusting balance of ‘League of Legends’, its strategic game. Especially ahead of 2016, by heralding a wholesale change, it makes users hope to see how the result of a change will be shown. Hence, we visited the head office of Riot Games during the event ‘League of Legends All-Star 2015’, and heard the story from the game developers about what will be changed. As the third, we talked about achievements of esports in 2015, the flow of 2016 and etc to Whalen Rozelle esports general director, in charge of managing esports. ▲ Talked to Whalen Rozelle director about achievements and flow of esports. Q1. First, what is a general review of ‘League of Legends’ esports for this year? This year was very good for ‘League of Legends’. Esports also had many developments, held the first MSI in this year, and several teams won victories in various regions. This year is judged as a positive year in attendance rate or ratings. Q2. What degree is the reputation of esports at the US and Europe have? There might be diffierence from Asia where esports already established, but recently the number of viewers is increasing and it marks a steep growth. Q3. What do you view as vital to esports being accepted into mainstream sports? Compared to tranditional sports, it is the fact that esports is still immature, but its growth rate is very fast. To be accepted as an official sport, we are working on making users watch competition at the real site or increasing liveview, since we think these will change recognition. However, rather than simply following official sports, we are working hard in establishing eco-system for constructing environment of esports. Having virtuous cycle relationship between player and investor would be a driving force behind fundamental development. Q4. Like this year’s MSI, is there anything being prepared for esports in the next year? It’s too early to tell a new event in the next year, and we will make a new plan after looking back on the last events. Apart from it, we keep investing for development of each region’s league. May be a league by region is not as attractive as a global event, it is a great chance to meet fans at the real site. Q5. The number of holding global competitions in separated regions is increasing, and where do you want the competition to be held? As you know, a big global event was held in several regions including Seoul, Europe was host to League of Legends World Championship in this year, but MSI was held in the US. Likewise, we think that opening a competition in various regions is a good thing for fans. Apart from existing four regions, we are seeking for some methods such as creating a new competition to cover newly growing countries including Brazil, Turkey, and Southeast Asia. Though I can’t mention specific regions, I am able to tell you that we are seeking the direction to meet fans in the region by visiting various regions. Q6. What is the reason of registering LCK trademark rights at the head office recently? I think you asked it due to many issues recently related to LCK, but there is a little difficult part to answer here. We are cooperating between head office and branch office, but I think it’s better to talk to someone in charge of local region esports. Q7. Unlike North America, Riot Games, KeSPA, and OGN form the third party consultative group in Korea. What difference exists when compared to Riot Games taking the lead? We can say that Korea is rather unusual case. It is the region strong in esports, and also the third party is organically combined. Riot Games is in situation of running around alone in other regions, but I think a synergy happens through cooperation of the third party in Korea. What’s more, if another partner exists in other regions, it will be advantageous for delivering good experience. Of course there might be some pros and cons of two wyas, Riot Games taking the lead and a consultative group formation, but I would say forming a consultative group is better as various opinions can be made. Q8. Users have a lot of interest in Riot Games’s investing amount in LCK, and how much is the difference when compared to LCS? Though investing amount varies based on timing, when looked at as a whole, the amounts are similar. As the parts requiring money are similar anywhere, there is no much relationship with the fact of the partner’s existence and nonexsistence. Also, basically, we want to avoid the situation of making more investment in a specific region, not a new region. For your information, while in the case of North America and Europe, invested for the coaching staff, we invested in different parts in Korea as the coaching staff already took place. When fans see this, they might think why only invested in one side, but what we are avoiding is carrying out the same investment into the regions having different growing rate. Q9. What do you think about the best method of providing an optimal coverage environment like what fans hope? It is difficult to answer certainly, and also we keep learning it. We had made a coverage for maximum 11 hours in the past, but it had been pointed out for many times that it’s too long. Therefore, we tried hard to shorten by 6 hours as it is today. Planning various experiments in North America, but we couldn’t find a clear answer. So, we always review the competitions even if they got positive results. Also, now is a special time. A form of consuming TV keeps changing, and online viewers are increasing so that it became easy to select the channel that a consumer wants. We are going to provide service focused on the change of broadcasting environment, and we are also considering a broadcasting method for fans, as they enjoy to participate rather than to watch. Q10. How important is esports to ‘League of Legends’? They are inseparable. Popularity of ‘League of Legends’ raises its profile in esports, and popularity gained from esports again raise interests in items and contents in the game. Q11. Are you considering making profit through esports? Many ideas are came out as esports develops, but I think a long-term growth as esports is more significant than creating an immediate profit. We could have more opened think of the ideas in the far future, but one thing’s for certain, hurting users’ experience such as making them pay to watch in a better quality will never happen. Q12. In North America and Europe, Riot Games is directly participating in producing broadcasts, and is there any plan to directly participate in Korea and other regions? Though it’s hard to give an answer confined to a particular region, in case of Korea, cooperation with the partner is already proceeding, and satisfied with producing a high-quality broadcast. As I answered to the earlier question, if there is a partner to show sufficient quality, I believe it’s better to work with a partner. ▲ Apart from investment, Whallen Rozelle commented that it’ll be better to be with a partner if it exists.
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Interview of Game Developers, Andrei Van Roon & Brian Feeney
Riot Games is trying many changes for adjusting balance of ‘League of Legends’, its strategic game. Especially ahead of 2016, by heralding a wholesale change, it makes users hope to see how the result of a change will be shown. Hence, we visited the head office of Riot Games during the event ‘League of Legends All-Star 2015’, and heard the story from the game developers about what will be changed. As the first, we talked about the change in the game by meeting lead game designer, Andrei Van Roon, and senior game balance designer, Brian Feeney. ▲ Listened to the story from two game developers about the change coming in 2016. Q1. Please introduce yourself. (Van Roon designer) I am a lead game designer, Anrei Van Roon, in charge of the game balancing of ‘League of Legends’. Now I am progressing various works related to preseason, and development parts to solve the problems of characteristic section or OP champions. Especially I take much care of speed of the game. (Feeney designer) I am a senior game balance designer, Brian Feeney. I am doing similar work, but also, as there are many experimental parts in this season, consistently checking how well the users adapt to the game. Q2. On which part do you focus among the feedbacks from users? (Van Roon designer) Which choice the users decide is the part that we read most interestingly. Especially we are focusing on what rarely used and beloved champions are, or if there is any item used rarely or beloved. (Feeney designer) For example, we interestingly watch the cases such as going to the middle line with ‘Quinn’. We are observing how successful our experiments so far are, and how the users develop them. Q3. It seems that more changes are made in this season compared to the last season. What’s the reason? (Van Roon designer) We pursued change, inducing more battles by letting towers destroyed in a shorter time. We consider preseason the only period for this experiment as there are no large scale event and ranked play. Q4. Recently, a remake of ‘Poppy’ has been getting good responses from users. Is there any predicting champion that might be remade in the future? (Van Roon designer) Lots of remakes are prepared in 2016. Shortly, ‘Shen’ will be remade, and probably ‘Taric’ is the champion that might be greatly changed like ‘Poppy’. In the long run, the champion ‘Yorick’ also needs change. As we consider both balance and the champion’s theme during remake, ‘Sion’ would be the good example. We also base on how old the champion is, and ‘Taric’ could be the one. Q5. What do you think about the opinions that the game is getting harder because of many reasons such as increasing items? (Feeney designer) The main reason why we made various items is to let users use a wide range of strategies. Of course, it seems complicated, but we might say that it is simplified as the users can show their color. Q6. I wonder how feedbacks are different by regions. Such as, how the items preferred by Korean and Chinese are different? (Feeney designer) Considering region by region, rather than items, there were many cases that preferences of champions are different. Especially, we could know a specific champion becomes popular by looking at progamer’s build. (Van Roon designer) In Riot Games, there are people in charge by regions, so they check the differences consistently, I believe. Q7. What do you base on for the standard during balancing work? (Feeney designer) One of the reasons why balancing work is so difficult is what should be taken as a standard. We look at various data, and many figures by calculating what the winning rate will be by champions or when building dragon 3-stacks. Also, we actively accept community’s feedbacks. (Van Roon designer) Though we are trying to lower the barrier to entry, the focus for balancing work is actually users good at the game. In addition, it is also an important part to time the work. Q8. How long do the developers consider as an ideal game time? Also, what do you think about the case that mainly used champions in LCK are nerffed right before League of Legends World Championship? (Van Roon designer) Though there is no answer in playing time, 30-35 minutes should be ideal. One thing for sure is to prevent the game time way beyond the average. Even so, that all the games are ended in the same time is also sublated. We are working on drawing a fine line. (Feeney designer) That doing balancing work aimed at a specific region is absolutely not. It is of course to balancing OP(Over Power) champions, but I think one of the reasons why we think in that way is that Korean gamers are the fastest in finding OP champions and use them. ▲ They revealed that ’Shen’ and ‘Taric’ might have many changes.
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First View of Riot Games New Office Buildings in Los Angeles
Riot Games introduced its new office building to the journalists covering events at the same time as ‘2015 League of Legends All-Star Event’, taken place from December 10-13 at the LCS Studio in Los Angeles, California. With the size of 360,000 square feet, Riot Games’ new office building has office room, park and resting facilities, and about 1,600 employees are working. Originally, the building used to be a storehouse, parking lot, space for personal video and etc by Hollywood film officials. Riot Games moved into the bulding in the first half of 2015 after making over the bulding to its use. The office area consists of working space where employees can freely move, and more than 200 small conference rooms and etc, dividing into specific areas such as ‘Demacia’ and ‘Piltover’. The names of conference room are consisting of the names of characters belonging to each camp, and the interior design also has characters’ features so that employees or visitors can easily find the conference room. Network Operation Center(NOC) where control games is the space where game servers from all over the world are being counted, so it can monitor the game conditions in real time 24-hours to the cooperation of NOC in Dublin, Ireland. Moreover, in the only closed office ‘Music Department’, about 20 employees are creating various musics. In addition, it is able to see ‘Riot Internet Café’, similar to ‘PC room’ in Korea, the biggest employee cafeteria among the game companies in West Los Angeles, the buildings designed in the shape of the most using keys in the game such as ‘Q’, ‘W’, ‘E’, and ‘R’, and the art works made by artists or game users from all over the world. ▲ Company logo at the entrance of Riot Games’ new office ▲ Artist Kim Jung Ki’s work of Riot Games employees working is at the entrance. ▲ ’Annie’ and ‘Tibbers’ are welcoming visitors. ▲ Concept arts and fan arts are hung all over. ▲ Tiles of central garden are installed in summoner canyon concept. ▲ ’Riot Internet Café’ written in Korean ▲ Internet Café is available to 151 people at the same time. ▲ ’Bilgewater Brew’, a café for employees ▲ Cannon in front of the café is real that can be fired. ▲ We can find the trace of Riot Games even at the bench in bus station in front of the new office.
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