League of Legends World Championship
The League of Legends World Championships is an annual electronic sports League of Legends championship tournament hosted by Riot Games. The Season 1 World Championships in June 2011, held at Dreamhack in Sweden, featured US$100,000 in prizes and $50,000 for Champion. After Season 1, Riot announced that US$5,000,000 would be paid out over Season 2. Of this 5 million, 2 million will go to Riot's partners including the IPL and other major eSports associations. Another 2 million goes to Riot's Season 2 qualifiers and championship. The final one million goes to small organizers who apply to Riot to host League of Legends tournaments.[1] From Season 2, the tournament prize pool was increased to more than $2 million and champion prize was increased to $1,000,000. All top teams from Asia, Europe and North America join to compete for this champion title and $1,000,000 Champion prize.
Tournament History
The Season 1 World Championships
The Season 1 World Championships in June 2011, held at Dreamhack in Sweden, featured US$100,000 in prizes.[2] Over 1.6 million viewers watched streaming broadcast of the event, with a peak of over 210,000 simultaneous viewers in one semi-final match.[3]
| Place | Team | Prize money |
| 1st |  Fnatic
|
$50,000 |
| 2nd |  Team against All authority
|
$25,000 |
The Season 2 World Championships
The Season 2 World Championship was held in early October 2012 in Los Angeles, California to conclude the $5 million USD season. Twelve qualifying teams from around the world participated in the championship, which boasted the largest prize pool in the history of e-sports tournaments at $2 million USD in that time. The grand finals took place on October 13, while all group stage, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches took place the week before, between October 4 and 6. 8.2 million viewers tuned in to the World Championship broadcast, with a maximum of 1.1 million concurrent viewers, making the Season 2 World Championship the most watched eSports event in history at the time.[4] On October 13, 2012, Taiwan's professional team Taipei Assassins (TPA) triumphed over South Korea's Azubu Frost 3-to-1 in the Finals of Season 2 World Championship, and claimed the $1 million in prize money.[5]
| Place | Team | Player name[6] | Prize money |
| 1st |  Taipei Assassins
|
 Lau Wai Kin (ID:"Toyz" )
|
$1,000,000 |
| 2nd |  Azubu Frost
|
Lee Hyun Woo (ID:"CloudTemplar")
|
$250,000 |
| 3rd/4th |  Moscow Five
|
Evgeny Mazaev (ID:"Darien")
|
$150,000 |
| 3rd/4th | Counter Logic Gaming EU
|
 Henrik Hansen(ID:"Froggen")
|
$150,000 |
Cheating controversy
During the Season 2 World Championships, Woong of team Azubu Frost allegedly cheated by turning his head to look at the screen. This led to Azubu Frost being fined $30,000. [7][8][9]
The Season 3 World Championships
The prize pool of Season 3 World Championship became $2,050,000. The playoffs were held in North America with the Grand final being held in the Staples Center on the 4th of October 2013. Korean team SK Telecom T1 won the grand prize of $1 million, and Chinese team Royal Club received $250,000.[10] The winning team SK Telecom T1 was crowned the Season 3 world champion, walked off with the Summoner’s Cup and $1 million. 14 teams from North America, Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and one of the emerging League of Legends territories measured up at the World Playoffs after having qualified through their regional competitions.[11] Season 3 World Championship broadcast over Twitch livestream on October 4, was watched by 32 million people, 8.5 million of whom were watching at the same time. The numbers shatter previous records for eSports viewership, and show that video game streams can rival TV in terms of scale and reach.[12]
| Place | Team | Player name[13] | Prize money |
| 1st | SK Telecom T1
|
Lee Sang Hyeok (ID:"Faker")
|
$1,000,000 |
| 2nd |  Royal Club
|
Xiao Wang (ID:"GoDlike")
|
$250,000 |
| 3rd/4th | NaJin Black Sword
|
Gu Bon Taek (ID:"Expession")
|
$150,000 |
| 3rd/4th | Fnatic
|
 Lauri Happonen(ID:"Cyanide")
|
$150,000 |
The Season 2014 World Championships
The 2014 World Championship group stages will be held in Taipei and Singapore in September, 2014. Quarter final showdown will be hosted in Busan, Korea in October. The Championship will move to Seoul, Korea for semifinal and final stages. The Final will take place on October 19th, 2014, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. [14]
References
- ^ "League of Legends Season 2". Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ Fnatic hxd Harry Wiggett (June 20, 2011). "FnaticMSI.LoL are DHS Champions! Winning $50,000". FNATIC.com. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ John Funk (June 23, 2011). "The Escapist : News : League of Legends Championship Draws 1.69 Million Viewers". The Escapist. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ Riot: League of Legends Season 2 Championships most watched eSports event of all timegamespot.com
- ^ "Taipei Assassins triumph in 'League of Legends' world finals". Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ "League of Legends Season Two World Championships". Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ "League of Legends playoffs soured by allegations of cheating". Retrieved June 25, 2014.
- ^ "League of Legends tournament cheaters fined $30,000". Retrieved June 25, 2014.
- ^ "World Playoffs - Rule Violations". Retrieved June 25, 2014.
- ^ Farokhmanesh, Megan (October 5, 2013). "League of Legends 2013 World Championship winner crowned". Polygon. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ League of Legends Season 3 World Championship takes place October 4vg247.com
- ^ 'League of Legends' eSports finals watched by 32 million people
- ^ "League of Legends Season Three World Championship". Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/esports/esports-event/2014-world-final-heads-seouls-world-cup-stadium