Wild Rift esports was once a booming scene with a promising potential to put Riot Games on top of the mobile esports mountain. But now, the scene is in a sorry state. Multiple regions are no longer receiving support and Riot has been handing the game off to third-party tournament organizers. So the question is, is Wild Rift esports still a thing?
Credit: Wild Rift
The decline of Wild Rift esports came at the pulling of the plug on Western tournaments. In 2022, Riot Games no longer supported global tournaments for its Western scene, effectively ending the scene altogether. The decision came following poor viewership numbers across the scene despite a successful Horizon Cup, an event many saw as the foundation for a promising Wild Rift esports future.
With the Western Wild Rift scene officially in the ground, the Wild Rift League (WRL) was formed. This league combined the best teams from China and APAC; every other region was not included. Although Riot stated this was to allow third-party-led tournaments and grass-root events to rise, this was essentially Riot’s way of stepping back from the scene in the West.
Although APAC was initially involved in the WRL, Riot Games recently announced they would no longer support the APAC region for the same reasons they gave for abandoning the West two years ago. Citing this route as the best option for the region, this has left the Wild Rift League with only Chinese organizations participating in the esports scene.
The future of the esports side of the game looks all but dead in the West. There haven’t been any North American Wild Rift tournament in quite some time. Meanwhile, the scene hasn’t had an official tournament in Europe since 2023, with Wild Circuit 2023 – Rift Legends Season 3 being the most popular. With many of the top content creators leaving the scene, we will unlikely see a return of the Western competitive scene anytime soon.
Despite Riot’s lack of effort in esports, the game is still booming. Riot also has not wavered in keeping the game fresh. Like with their League of Legends IP, Riot consistently updates the game with new patches, skin lines, events, and more. It will be interesting to see whether third-party tournament developers will continue to support the APAC scene, given it has recently been part of the WRL.
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