Korean League of Legends Players Teddy and Faker Star in New Wild Rift Commercial

Korean League of Legends players Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Park “Teddy” Jin-seong are starring in the new South Korean commercial for LoL Wild Rift, the mobile version of LoL.

The commercial shows the players along with retired pro and current caster Lee “CloudTemplar” Hyun-woo on a bus, they announce their ranks on Wild Rift and end by encouraging players to download the game.

Riot Games will need all the buzz they can get for their new title. Mobile MOBAS have been exploding in popularity in recent years and the company will be entering a competitive market. In a smart move on Riot’s part, they are drawing on star players from the PC game.

The MOBA scene on Mobile already has established games and leagues, titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Honor of Kings are the current top dogs of mobile MOBAs. On top of that, the mobile esports arena is beginning to pick up steam. The aforementioned MOBAs as well as games like Clash Royale and PUBG MOBILE have a robust esports scene.

Mobile esports have yet to gain popularity in North America and most of Western Europe. Currently, the largest markets for them are in South East Asia, China, and India (Despite the recent ban of PUBG MOBILE by the Indian Government).  The US has little to no presence in the mobile esports scene, so it will take a major push on the part of Riot Games to make a dent in the US esports scene with a mobile game.

If they are successful, we could see a major boom in the number of pro and amateur LoL players, mobile esports have a much lower barrier for entry, as long as you have a halfway decent phone you can compete. Because of the mobile nature of the game, more tournaments would be held online and the increase in tournaments, leagues, and teams could create a big shift in the esports betting scene. We could see less successful LoL PC players move away from the full game to attempt to break into the mobile scene, esports orgs may split their investments in coaching and players across two games rather than just one, and the lower barrier for entry could see unknown players cause upsets.

The game is already available in South Korea and Japan, and it will enter a regional open beta on October 27^th for the following countries,

• Philippines
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Indonesia
• South Korea
• Japan
• Thailand

Gamers in Europe, Oceania, Taiwan, and Vietnam will have to wait until the first week of December. If you are from the US, you will have the longest wait, the North American release is slated for Spring 2021.