known as Defense of the Ancients. DOTA, as it came to be known, outlived WarCraft 3 and

went on to become its own genre, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. But before breaking out

of Blizzard’s World Editor, two friends had an idea; transform DOTA into a live service

that was constantly updated, reiterated, and supported beyond its release.

In 2006, DOTA fans Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill formed Riot Games and brought on Steve “Guinsoo”

Feak and Steve “Pendragon” Mescon to help bring that idea to life. Three years later,

Riot released League of Legends to much fanfare gave the world their first taste of the next

generation in MOBA gaming. The game was a success, but little did the team know how

far League of Legends would come in just three short years.

After a successful tournament at Sweden’s Dreamhack convention in the summer of 2011,

League of Legends skyrocketed to video game fame, but Riot still lived in the shadow of

what it considered its big brother, Blizzard. Slowly but surely, League of Legends climbed

in international popularity until it did the unthinkable: dethrone StarCraft as the biggest

game in South Korea. With Korea in its pocket, League of Legends went on to become the biggest

esports event in North America, drawing thousands to its Season Two World Championships. However,

Riot dreamed of taking over the sports arena down the street for its next big event - and

only a year removed from Season Two, Riot had done it: the Season Three World Championships

kicked off in front of a sellout crowd at the world-famous Staples Center. Now a money-printing-machine

disguised as the number one multiplayer game in the world, what else is there for Riot

to do?

Well, somebody is buying those skins, right?

Have fun!