League of Legends fans on the European time zones have had it rough. The massive time difference between Europe and last year’s finals in South Korea meant there were several all-nighters during the conclusion of the tournament.
This year though, Riot has let loose some juicy news. And there was much rejoicing.
The World Championships, often shortened to Worlds, will be taking place in Europe this year!
This conclusion to the League Championship series (LCS) has drawn in some incredibly epic numbers for worldwide eSports. For the final between Samsung White and Royal Club, some 11.2 million people tuned in to watch the showdown, with 27 million unique views for the duration of the World Championships.
As with the Worlds series last year- which took place across Singapore, Taipei and Korea- different stages of the championship will be held in different cities in different countries within the region. With that in mind, I’d expect significant chunks of the action to take place in established LoL hotspots in Europe, such as Cologne (IEM/ESL) in Germany and Jönköping (DreamHack) in Sweden.
Of course, that suggestion is not exhaustive. After the success of a UK leg of the LCS in London’s Wembley Arena, one certainly hopes that we see a UK leg of the World Championships.
eSports in the Olympic Stadium, perchance?
Of course, it’s still early days for now. Plans are being worked out and cogs are turning behind the scenes, hopefully we’ll see more news on locations in the coming months.
For now though, who’s excited for Worlds already?