If you were watching Worlds 2022 last week and wondering whether League of Legends will ever make it big again in SEA then you’re in for a treat. Riot has officially announced that they will ‘revitalize’ the great L again in January 2023.
The official announcement stated that Riot has decided to end their 12-year partnership with Garena. Following this decision, Riot will be self-publishing LoL and Teamfight Tactics starting next year.
Furthermore, according to Riot Games representatives for the Asia Pacific region, they’re planning to strengthen their hubs in several SEA countries that previously had recorded a significant LoL player base such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines.
There will be improvements and rewards
Riot’s decision to self-publish will certainly benefit Sea players. As starters, they promised to improve their dedicated servers for the SEA region.
Riot also announced that players who have been playing outside of SEA will have to migrate their accounts soon, which will be started on November 18th. To compensate for the migration, Riot will hold a special in-game event for SEA players in January. The incentives are highly appealing: all champions that have been released prior to the 2022 season will be unlocked after you’ve finished the missions. There will be prize tokens as well, which could be swapped for cosmetic items in TFT.
Riot also guaranteed that API services from various sites, including op.gg, will be available to Southeast Asian region players. Those looking for precise statistical data on their games will undoubtedly find this really helpful.
Furthermore, Riot assured that there will be more interesting events in the future for both existing and new fans. Lastly, they stated that unique fans policies will be implemented in SEA as well, such as Art for RP.
This is undoubtedly great news after years of waiting, for LoL fans in SEA. It’s not a secret that they were completely disappointed at how Garena handled LoL publication in SEA. They also expressed frustration with Garena’s servers, which were deemed to be less reliable than those in other areas, and their pricing policy over in-game currency.
Given how good Valorant is doing in the SEA region at the moment, it’s only logical to expect that Riot might have already planned a SEA tournament following this official announcement. League Championship SEA Series, anyone?
