One of the biggest events in the competitive gaming calendar is coming to London.
The UK capital will play host to the League of Legends World Championship Finals on November 2, 2024.
Around 16,000 fans crammed into a sold-out arena in South Korea’s capital Seoul to watch the latest decider, some of whom came dressed as characters from the game. Millions more watched the action live on video sites like Twitch, and at cinemas up and down the country.
League of Legends (LOL) is a strategy game where two teams of five battle to destroy one another’s bases.
Although it’s free to play on PC, the game can feel intimidating for beginners due to the sheer breadth of characters (there are more than 150 “Champions” to choose from) and tactics.
In 2021, LOL was turned into an award-winning animated series on Netflix called Arcane.
Ticket sales for next year’s finals, which will be held at the O2 in London, will be announced at a later date. But, you had better be quick: Tickets for the latest event reportedly sold out in just 10 minutes.
The LoL World Championship is widely viewed as the Super Bowl of eSports. This year’s tournament diverged from previous editions by ditching the traditional group stage format to give the best teams a better chance of progressing.
The trophy was ultimately clinched by Korean dynamos T1 for a record fourth time. The team includes pro-gamer Faker, a 27-year-old who has become a superstar in his native Korea.
London previously hosted the LoL Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) in May, which is typically the second-largest tournament on the game’s competitive calendar.
2023 has already been a massive year for eSports in the city, with huge tournaments dedicated to Pokémon and Fortnite. Some of the best players on the scene also popped up in Shoreditch recently, to teach Londoners how to up their game.
