Check Out The League Of Legends Finals' New Venue

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
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Check Out The League Of Legends Finals' New Venue

Just yesterday, we got a look at how Major League Gaming was looking to step up its game by bringing in new video, offering up more opportunities for advertisers to get in on a major demographic and also give the field of professional gaming a little more credibility. But it's not just Major League Gaming that has put a boost in its credibility.

A new report indicates that Riot Games is also looking to step up its game by booking the Staples Center in Los Angeles--typically home of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, as well as the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Los Angeles Sparks, among others--for the finals of the League of Legends 2013 World Championships. Said championships are set to run October 4, with qualifying events starting with North America's during the Penny Arcade Expo--otherwise known as PAX--Prime event in Seattle, Washington. European events will occur not too far away during the Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany.

The Staples Center has room for 19,000 fans, and given that last year's finals at the Galen Center of the University of Southern California completely sold out--and the Galen Center holds 10,000 fans--it may not be overreaching to step up to a larger venue. Not only is Riot Games stepping up the venue, it's also said to be stepping up the prize purse involved. The total prize pool is said to be fully $8 million, with a cool million of that going directly to the team that wins the championship entire. Those interested will soon be able to buy tickets to the event directly on the League of Legends Championship Series' website.

Looking at this objectively, especially when considered in the light of yesterday's news, adds credence to a growing trend: the issue of professional gaming becoming steadily more credible. This is an excellent start, let's not mince words. By any standard, professional gaming is growing by leaps and bounds, and it only gets better when one considers that the Major League Gaming concept has only existed since 2002. Riot Games' "League of Legends" has been a major part of that operation for some time, now counting over 32 million registrations and 12 million players worldwide every day. Video games as a spectator sport has never been so popular, and in all likelihood, by this time next year, it will be even more popular then than it is now.

It will be interesting to see if other leagues decide to compete. There's nothing that I can think of preventing, say, a Call of Duty tournament that's not part of Major League Gaming auspices. Will one day games be played professionally in the EA League or the Capcom Tournament or anything like that? Will the success of professional gaming ultimately prove its downfall? There are a lot of possibilities inherent in something like this, and while only time will tell just what possibilities make the leap into reality, the sheer number of same is hard to ignore.
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