League of Legends 2020 World Championship to push through in China amid COVID-19

By Aaron Mamiit August 2, 2020

Riot Games is pushing through with the 2020 World Championship for League of Legends, despite safety concerns due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Recommended Videos

The global health crisis has affected the video game industry in the form of delayed releases such as The Last of Us Part II and canceled events such as E3 2020. However, it appears that Riot Games will not allow the coronavirus to affect its plans for League of Legends‘ Worlds 2020.

We're excited to celebrate the 2020 World Championship this September in China! #Worlds2020

See this video message from Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent and Global Head of Esports John Needham about our current plans: pic.twitter.com/c8trp4x8LD

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) August 1, 2020

In a blog post, Riot Games said that Worlds 2020 will be held exclusively in Shanghai from September 25 to October 31, as the inaugural event at the new Pudong Soccer Stadium.

The top teams from regional leagues across the world will compete in the tournament, which will be hosted in a single city to reduce travel and for control over the environment. Riot Games said that it will follow safety guidelines to protect the players who will be attending the event, as well as the fans who will watch if local guidelines will allow an audience by the time of the tournament.

Riot Games, however, did not share the specific measures that it will implement at World 2020. In comparison, Epic Games canceled this year’s Fortnite World Cup due to the pandemic, deciding against holding the tournament in an online format like many e-sports counterparts due to the “limitations of cross-region online competition.”

Digital Trends has reached out to Riot Games to confirm whether there are teams that have already expressed an intent to join the tournament, and for the developer’s plan in case some of the top League of Legends teams refuse to participate. We will update this article as soon as we hear back.

League of Legends‘ World Championship will be returning to its full multi-city tour in 2021, still in China, then in North America in 2022.

Topics

Contributor

Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…

Gaming

League of Legends’ latest champion is a void slayer

league of legends belveth reveal bel veth

Riot Games has fully unveiled everything League of Legends players need to know about the next Champion: Bel'Veth the Void Empress.
As her gaudy name suggests, Bel'veth is an all-powerful being from the Void dimension and a brand-new threat to Runeterra. Last week, she got a delightfully eerie cinematic trailer where she spars with Kai'Sa before revealing her true form. How she plays in League of Legends matters just as much as her lore, however. Thankfully, Riot Games released a trailer showing her in action on Monday.
Bel’Veth: The Empress of the Void | Champion Trailer - League of Legends
Today, Riot Games unveiled what all of Bel'Veth's abilities are. Her passive ability is called Death in Lavender, which increases her attack speed temporarily after using an ability and permanently after defeating a monster or Champion. Her Q-key ability is called Void Surge and makes Bel'Veth dash forward, damaging everyone she hits. Bel'Veth's W-key ability is Above and Below, where she slams her tail on the ground to damage and slow any enemies while reducing Void Surge's cooldown. The E-key ability is Royal Maelstrom, where Bel'Veth lets out a flurry of quick slashes that deal more damage to those with low health and increase her damage reduction and life steal.
Finally, Bel'Veth has an ultimate ability called Endless Banquet, which she'll need Void Coral from killing monsters and champions to be able to use. With Endless Banquet, Bel'Veth explodes while transforming into her True Form, damaging and slowing the enemies around her. True Form Bel'Veth will turn enemies she kills into Voidlings that fight alongside her, and she gains increased health, move speed, attack range, and attack speed. Overall, Bel'Veth seems like a ferocious attacker that you won't want to take on alone at low health.
Bel'Veth the Void Empress will be added to League of Legends on June 9.

Gaming

League of Legends’ spinoff games get what the series is really about

All playable characters in the Ruined King

The League of Legends brand has evolved immensely over its 11-year life span. What started as a simple Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) filled with wild and strange characters has formed into a living and breathing world. In recent years, Riot Games put out multiple games, many that take place in Runeterra -- the world in which League of Legends takes place.

Now that Runeterra is fully fleshed out and has multiple games encompassed in it, many players are now focusing on what the "true canon" means in this world. With the recent release of The Ruined King and Hextech Mayhem, developer Riot Forge seems hesitant to confirm whether these games are specifically canon in League's story. This has led players to dismiss the events in this game, as they may not fit neatly into the true canon. Riot Games and Riot Forge’s stance on the canon of its games shows is that it's not particularly concerned about an all-encompassing omni-canon, but it wants the story to be about what League of Legends really is: Legends of heroes.
To be canon or not to be canon?
Around the time that the Ruined King was released, Riot Forge held an AMA on Reddit to discuss the game. A question about how the game fits into the canon was brought up, and Rowan Parker, creative director at Riot Forge, answered. He later posted his answer to Twitter, as it was clearly a topic many fans of the series were interested in. His explanation left many unsatisfied, and some were still confused. Parker's response simultaneously claimed that Ruined King was mostly canon, but Riot Forge isn’t fully committed to making in-canon games.

Gaming

League of Legends gets a spinoff rhythm game called Hextech Mayhem

Ziggs exploding past Heimerdinger.

Riot Forge has announced a new game in the League of Legends universe. Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story is a rhythm-based game that will be available on the Nintendo Switch, PC, and Netflix on November 16.

Hextech Mayhem is a rhythm-runner-style game that stars Ziggs, a yordle with an undying passion for explosions. Players must perform bomb jumps and bomb attacks to the beat of the soundtrack. There will be obstacles for players to avoid and light fuses scattered around the levels that can set off a chain reaction of explosions.