Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

League of Legends adds branded arena banners to e-sports matches

By

Some familiar brands will begin making an appearance during League of Legends matches.

Recommended Videos

Developer Riot Games announced it will add customized arena banners in League of Legends that will allow brands to advertise during professional matches of the popular multiplayer online battle arena game. The banners will mimic the ads seen at traditional sporting events.

Related

Fans will start to see in-game banners featuring actual ads on the Summoner’s Rift map on June 20 during the 2020 Summer Split events, and they will continue through the League of Legends Championship Series’ World Championship later this year. The change will also come to League of Legends’ regional e-sports leagues.

Riot Games approved 50 brands to appear on regional and international matches, including Mastercard and Alienware.

League of Legends is no stranger to sponsorships. Its 2019 World Championships featured a Louis Vuitton trophy case for the winners, as well as cross-branded merchandise. It’s also implemented other sponsorships with big-name brands like MasterCard in the past.

The latest strategy is a collaboration with Nielsen, which sees in-game banners as a lucrative asset for e-sports. The NBA 2K League and Rocket League already use their virtual gaming venues for advertisements, both in-game and during e-sports competitions. However, those games come with playspaces that more closely resemble real-life sports venues.

“Nielsen’s experience as our trusted metrics partner, as well as for professional sports, has allowed us to fast-track the valuation of Summoner’s Rift Arena Banners,” Doug Watson, head of Esports Insights at Riot Games, told Digital Trends. “At various points throughout the development process, Nielsen advised on best practices that would unlock additional value for our brand partners.”

Watson believes the in-game banners will allow e-sports to achieve parity with professional sports leagues when it comes to advertising, citing the NFL, NBA, and Union of European Football Associations’ use of branded stadiums and arenas.

However, unlike players on the field, League of Legends players won’t see the ads that spectators do.

“This was largely a consideration to avoid impacting the competitive integrity of matches,” Watson said. “Professional League of Legends players are highly attuned to the layout of the map, and it was important for us not to impact their existing strategies with the release of this product.”

League of Legends is the most-watched e-sport in the world, and the 2019 World Championship saw viewers tune in for over 137 million hours. Its popularity continues to grow, with the league showing a 66% increase over 2018. Official broadcasts stream on over 30 distribution platforms worldwide, and ESPN2 aired five matches of the Spring Split playoffs in April.

This offers plenty of potential eyes on ads in future matches.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Tyler Treese
Tyler Treese
When not playing or writing about games, Tyler Treese serves as the Senior Editor at Wrestlezone. An experienced writer that…
League of Legends fighting game will be free-to-play
Jinx and Echo fight in League of Legends fighting game Project L.

Riot Games and Radiant Entertainment released a video about Project L, the League of Legends fighting game they are hard at work on, ahead of the global fighting game tournament, Evo. The most significant thing announced during this August 2021 update is that Project L is a free-to-play game.

/dev: The Latest on Project L | dev diary - Project L

Read more
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.

Read more
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.

Read more