Riot Games is introducing sponsored arena banners, meaning the battlefield will feature branding for the various partaking leagues. When the League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split commences on 13 June, players will be treated to some cosmetic changes to the Summoner’s Rift map.
On field advertising has become inextricable of traditional broadcast sports, so it’s not much of a shock that Riot Games is tinkering with it. “Our aspiration is to create an environment that exudes the energy found in traditional sports,” Riot Games wrote in its statement, “and we’ll continue to work towards that goal.”
We’re very excited to be entering Summoner’s Rift ? https://t.co/Bh0tvQDYvo
— MastercardNexus (@MastercardNexus) May 26, 2020
Moreover, the sponsored banners will be public-facing only. In order to “ensure that a new visual model won’t impact [players’] ability to practice and compete,” players won’t actually see the sponsored banners while they’re competing, they’ll just see the standard models.
League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows and macOS. Inspired by the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne mod Defense of the Ancients, the game follows a freemium model and is supported by microtransactions.
Games will host the Summer Split entirely online. Proceeds starts officially on 11 June 2020 , all the details are here.
