League of Legends is one of the most popular MOBA style games on the market, peaking at nearly 12 million players worldwide per day. Since its launch in 2009, the game has picked up serious steam becoming a huge eSport, all while keeping up with other games of its genre. Unlike some Free to play titles, League of Legends has been incredibly successful in its lifetime, with Riot claiming over 30 million registrations to the game to date.
On May 15th Riot announced Plantronics as their official headset partner for Season 3 of the LoL World Championship Series.
“At Plantronics, we are big League of Legends fans and players, so we are particularly thrilled to be the official headset partner of the League of Legends Championship Series,” said Chuck Frizelle, head of gaming at Plantronics. “Our headsets offer competitors a true eSports tournament headset –designed to provide outstanding audio quality in the noisiest LAN environments, while fitting comfortably for marathon gaming sessions.”
“We wanted an official headset partner that produced a headset made specifically for eSports professional gamers, while also offering quality headsets to our audience at all gaming levels and price points,“ said Dustin Beck, vice president of eSports at Riot Games. “Partnering with Plantronics, we are able to provide an exceptional audio experience for our players throughout the Championship Series.”
In games like LoL, communication is key. Hearing your teammates, and them being able to hear you clearly is essential to winning. I reviewed the GameCom Commander recently and I assure you it is a professional gamer’s Holy Grail. It is excellent at blocking out crowd noise and has a solid microphone. Riot couldn’t have made a better choice for their teams playing at the championship.
Not only is this great news for Riot Games and LoL players, but it’s great for eSports in general. As more sponsorships occur, more attention and validity comes with them. Competitive gamers have fought for their talents to be taken seriously as a sport for years, and this is a step in the right direction. If Plantronics sponsors Riots Championship, then maybe others will too, and before long we will have an ESPN-Gaming channel. I may be jumping the gun a little here, but if gaming has taught me anything, it’s that if you keep trying you will eventually make that jump. Unless you are playing Battletoads. Then you are just screwed.
