Riot Games and Tencent to Launch Fantasy Sports-Like “League of Legends” Game

Riot Games and Tencent have just announced League of Legends: Esports Manager (LOL:ESM) has been approved for sale in China.

It’s the second Riot Games title that has been approved this year, after League of Legends: Wild Rift. This paves the way for the two mobile titles to hit Chinese app stores by the end of the year.

In LOL: ESM, players can choose their favorite Tencent League of Legends Pro League (hereafter “LPL”) players and draft and build a team. These leagues allow you to pick players with existing stats and pit them against other teams.

According to Chinese outlet Sohu, the development of this title will help to “connect events and esports enthusiasts.”

Localization by Riot Games into Mandarin has proved to work well in the past. League of Legends, their flagship title, was approved years back and became a massive hit, with an estimated 111 million users in 2017. Chinese team Invictus Gaming became the first non-Korean team to win the League of Legends World Championship in five years.

The hashtag #League of Legends Esports Manager Has Been Approved# received over 57 million impressions on Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent.

One excited Weibo user expressed their excitement online, writing, “Hurrrrrrrry up! What cannot be achieved in the reality will have to be through games.”

Given the reception on Weibo, fans are highly interested and are anticipating a release date with bated breath.

Image via @英雄联盟电竞经理/Weibo