Riot aims to bring Valorant Game Changers model to League of Legends
Riot executives have said that they are exploring ways to provide more opportunities for women in League of Legends esports, citing the success of the Valorant Game Changers series.
In February 2021,Riot launched Valorant Game Changers, an all-women professional circuit for their FPS title.
The project has run three series in North America and two in Europe over the course of the year.
Citing the success of Game Changers, Riot’s Global Head of League of Legends Esports, Naz Aletaha, revealed that the company is hoping to bring a similar format to League of Legends.
Pro League opportunities for women
“At Riot, we’ve started to make some really positive inroads on providing more platforms for female gamers,” Aletaha said. “Valorant Game Changers is an amazing example of that, and that’s going to be something we’re going to look to bring over to League of Legends esports as well.”
Riot has greatly expanded the League of Legends IP in the last year.
League of Legends: Wild Rift brought the game to mobile in late 2020, something that Aletaha mentioned was seeing a “really healthy balance of male to female gamers”.
Riot is also due to release its first television show in November 2021, as they partnered with Netflix to produce the League of Legend animated series,Arcane.
Aletaha said these projects had helped “expand the global audience” of League of Legends.
Meanwhile, the company introduced Game Changers for its Valorant esports scene. The all-women professional circuit saw substantial success in North America and was expanded to the EMEA region in September 2021.
If the Game Changers concept is brought to League of Legends, it would mark a concerted effort by Riot to provide women with formal, sanctioned esports events. While women’s events and leagues have been held in the past, they are almost always lower-tier tournaments run by independent organizations.
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The successful implementation of the idea would mark a major step forward for women trying to make it as professional League of Legends players.
