League of Legends boasts $5 million prize pool for Season Two

By Jeff Hughes August 16, 2011

Riot Games announced it will be kicking of Season Two of the free-to-play action RTS game League of Legends with an enticing prize pool of $5 million. The developer says the amount is the largest for eSports so far.

The prize money, designed to further the League of Legends egaming scene, will be dispersed into local, national and international tournaments. Weekly open registration events will allow those hungry but untested a chance to capture a piece of the huge pot. With 1.4 million players logging in daily, the Defense of the Ancients-inspired PC game won’t be making competition easy.

“Season One of League of Legends was a resounding success, with over 1.7 million viewers tuning in to our first-ever championships,” said Riot Games president Marc Merrill in a statement. “The competitive scene in League of Legends has grown like wildfire, and the five million dollars in prize money on the line is a testament to how massive the scene has become and is just the first glimpse of what our players have in store for the upcoming season!”

LoL fervor has made the game an official title with Major Leauge Gaming, World Cyber Games and Electronic Sports League. MLG has even started up new tournament midway through their season featuring the four best US teams who’ll be competing Saturday for a $20,000 pot. League of Legends joins the MLG Pro Circuit lineup of Starcraft 2, Halo:Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Season Two is coming this fall. Riot Games also teased fans with a trailer for a new LoL mode earlier this month called Dominion. It adds capture-the-tower gameplay and faster matches. Alongside the new LoL anouncement, Valve revealed DotA 2 this week with a $1 million tournament at Gamescom streamed live from Dota2.com.

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I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

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