Riot Games In Negotiations With Esports World Cup

Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends, VALORANT and Project L, is in negotiations with Esports World Cup. Earlier this week, Jacob Wolf reported that Esports World Cup will feature the League of Legends tournament. Riot Games admitted the fact of negotiations but stated that nothing is confirmed yet as they've "been in conversations with various tournament organizers — including the Esports World Cup — about unlocking teams' participation in such events."

If we're indeed to see the LoL tournament in Riyadh this summer, it might have big consequences for both the esports world and the fighting game community. Riot Games is one of the leaders when it comes to managing its own esports ecosystem. For a long time, the company did not allow big third-party tournaments with powerhouses from different regions. If League of Legends will be present at the Esports World Cup, then it would mean a notable change of strategy. Considering that Riot Games continues developing Project L, this might lead to its appearance in future EWC tournaments.

But even if Project L will be absent from the Esports World Cup, the League of Legends tournament will bring more attention to the FGC from the traditional esports clubs. We've talked about that in one of our recent videos:

It should also be noted that in the past, Riot Games partnered with the Saudi state-backed city development NEOM but soon cancelled it after the backlash from talents and the community. Will everything work out this time? There are many questions and many possible outcomes; that's why we will keep our eyes on this story.