When Wild Rift was first released in 2020, esports competitions featuring the game quickly became the buzz of the town. Wild Rift was under pressure to match its PC counterpart’s success. However, as time went on, a great number of people were undoubtedly let down by Wild Rift Esports. In particular, the Western regions, in which the game did not even come close to achieving anything that was even remotely anticipated from it. Finally, the Global Head of Valorant Esports for Riot Games, Leo Faria, who was also in-charge of Wild Rift Esports made some tweets regarding the dying esports scene in the West.
“There’s no evil person responsible for the decision”
In a recent tweet, @subzidite2 posted a clip where Leo Faria, the Global Head of Valorant Esports was seen discussing his plans regarding the new esports system of Valorant coming into 2023. @subzidite2 wrote in the tweet, “Good to see Leo finally have things goes as he outlines it. His time during Comp WR was with Impossible difficulty on + game issue so it’s expected so He’s not fully to blame. With VAL they already had a good base for him to expand it.“
Through his tweet, @subzidite2 might have indicated the fall of Wild Rift Esports in the west and Leo Faria’s role in it. Being the Director of Wild Rift Esports, Leo Faria definitely had some decisions to make regarding the cancellation of esports programs in the West.
The tweet was met with a swift reaction from Leo Faria, who was seen discussing the reasoning for the tough choices that were taken about the west. Leo Faria, the former Director of Wild Rift Esports tweeted, “Thanks. Not that people care to know, but I fought tooth and nail for WRE. We all did. Folks want someone to point their frustration to, I understand, but there’s no evil person responsible for the decision. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work how we expected it to in the west.”
Players and content creators have already started to leave Wild Rift
Riot Games has made the decision that beginning in 2023, it would not include the Western area in its esports strategy and will instead concentrate entirely on the Asian regions. During the previous year’s ICONS Championship, Asian teams and viewers made the highest contributions, which is an interesting fact to notice. On the other side, the western areas amassed a very small number of spectators, and the teams in these regions performed quite poorly for the whole of the tournaments.
At the time of its debut, Wild Rift was considered to be one of the mobile gaming industry’s most potentially lucrative titles. Especially considering that it was developed by Riot Games and is the mobile adaptation of “League of Legends,” which is often considered to be the most popular video game in the world. As the substitute for League of Legends, the game was also successful in attracting a certain number of new players throughout the period of its launch.
Unfortunately, after two years had passed since its initial release, Wild Rift saw a significant decrease in the number of players coming from Western regions. Nevertheless, the player bases and the scenes in the Asian nations still have the potential to sustain profitable numbers, which is why Riot Games is placing a greater emphasis on this market as we go into the new year.
The removal of esports in the western area has consequences not just for the players but also for the content creators based in this part of the world. Because there will be no official esports events held in this location, the esports content from this region has been removed from the plan indefinitely.
There is already evidence that a significant number of content developers are leaving Wild Rift permanently. While a good number of them point the finger at the declining player base in this area. The majority of them were also overheard placing blame on Riot Games for the company’s lack of attention and exposure to this area. Some people believe that the lack of support from Riot Games is the reason why content developers are leaving the game.
What are your thoughts on Leo Faria’s statement on the removal of Wild Rift Esports from the West? Let us know in the comments below!
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