League of Legends: Wild Rift competitive eSports plans for 2021

2021 will see Riot Games lay the foundation and framework for competitive eSports support in League of Legends: Wild Rift.

2020 was a big year for League of Legends as Riot Games launched the beta for Wild Rift, the mobile version of the MOBA game. Although League of Legends: Wild Rift is still technically in beta in many regions — and only launching in the Americas in March — Riot is setting the foundation for the mobile game’s competitive scene and global esports structure.

John Needham, Head of Global Esports at Riot Games, acknowledged that Wild Rift is still in its infancy, as Open Beta is still rolling out in numerous countries. However, they have begun to establish the framework for players to compete, and 2021 will be “the year we will experiment and learn” as they set the foundation for eSports success with Wild Rift. In faction, the first competitions for League of Legends: Wild Rift will actually be held later this year.

"Riot Games Southeast Asia (SEA) announced its Wild Rift Esports competitive and collegiate plans for the region. In partnership with leading esports organizations throughout SEA, the season will kick off with several smaller, intermittent competitive events through March. In April, teams will transition to eight location-specific tournament circuits where they will compete for the title of local champion and a chance to later compete against other local champions from across Southeast Asia."

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The League of Legends: Wild Rift beta only launched in Europe in December, so it will probably be a little while longer until we see teams from that region start competing. As for North America, we’re only getting the open beta in March. Hopefully, by then a lot of the eSports framework support has been figured out so launching a competitive scene in North America will go smoothly.

While not necessarily part of the game’s eSports scene, Riot is looking to also improve competitive play for Wild Rift. This includes the addition of a ping reply system, which should help players easily coordinate with your team and acknowledge calls.

Riot is also working on a solution to give players more choice over the position they play in the game. Unfortunately, nothing specific was announced but design director Brian Feeney did say updates on this would be coming soon.

Wild Rift is playable on mobile devices but there are plans to bring it to consoles as well; however, with so much focus on the mobile launch, the company has barely spoken on that. It’s unclear if Riot will also support competitive eSports for the console version of the game as well.