Riot Games picks League of Legends World Championship’s host cities for 2021

By Andrew Zucosky June 16, 2021

League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced the five cities that will host this year’s League of Legends World Championship. The tournament will take place in the Chinese cities of Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Shenzen.

The League of Legends World Championship takes place every year and pits the top teams from 12 regional leagues against each other. Every year, the location for this tournament changes regions and different cities host various events at different stages.

A crowd gathered at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The start date of the tournament has yet to be determined, but the grand finals will be held in Shenzen on November 6.

The 2020 League of Legends World Championship also took place in China, however, Shanghai was the only city that hosted the event. For safety concerns, it was decided to hold the event in one location. During last year’s event, the tournament mainly took place in a closed environment, with only the grand finals being held in front of a live audience. It has not been confirmed whether or not the 2021 League of Legends World Championship will take place in front of a live audience. However, the Universiade Sports Center in Shanghai can hold over 60,000 guests.

This will be China’s third time hosting the League of Legends World Championship, after having done so in 2017 and 2020. North America was slated to host the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, but Riot Games decided to move the tournament to China due to the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

Riot Games confirmed that North America will host the League of Legends World Championship in 2022.

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Where to watch the League of Legends 2022 World Championship

An image of the Summoner's Cup trophy from the League of Legends World Championships.

You may not have known it, but the year's biggest sports tournament is about to hold its final. No, it's not baseball and the World Series; it's the 2022 League of Legends World Championship. The popular e-sports contest, which sees players from around the world compete to become the champion of the popular Riot Games video game League of Legends, has been running for just over a decade, and shows no signs of waning.

Players and fans alike may not know that they too can participate in the championship by streaming it on a number of platforms. But where is it streaming? And do you need to pay to see it? Digital Trends has all the answers for you below.
Where is it streaming?
Fortunately for fans and casual viewers alike, there are a number of options to view the final. Your best bet is to go to the home source: Riot Games. Their Twitch channel will carry the final match live in addition to their official website. You can also view the match on the LoL esports YouTube channel. Finally, you can view the tournament's ultimate battle on Riot's Trovo page.
What time does it start?
The final starts at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Where is it taking place?

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Evercore Heroes applies League of Legends’ formula to a cooperative game

Key art for Evercore Heroes.

Vela Games, an Irish game studio founded by former Riot Games developers in 2018, unveiled its first game at a digital prebrief event attended by Digital Trends. Titled Evercore Heroes, this game modifies themultiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) formula that League of Legends helped popularize into a competitive PvE dungeon-crawling experience.
While the basics of gameplay and isometric view of Evercore Heroes are very similar to a game like League of Legends, players aren't directly fighting each other. Instead, four teams of four compete against each other in a cooperative dungeon-crawling experience where players slowly level up their characters, charge the titular Evercore, and eventually win by taking down a large boss. MOBAs, both in terms of gameplay and their community, can be intimidating to get into, so co-founderounder Travis George hopes that the cooperative aspects of Evercore Heroes and other efforts by Vela Games will make this an approachable and friendly game to which platers return.
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So far, Vela Games has revealed eight playable heroes: Shade the assassin, the shield-wielding Fyn, Zari the archer, the creature with a community-voted design named Beko, the melee-focused boxer Blink, fire mage Cynder, tech medic Remy, and short-range healer Lotus. They each have distinct abilities, and most of them look like they could be League of Legends champions or Valorant agents, so Riot Games' influence can really be felt in the design. Definitely keep an eye on this one if you're a fan of Riot Games.
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/dev: The Latest on Project L | dev diary - Project L