Riot Games, the publisher behind hit games such as Valorant and League of Legends has announced a new women’s League of Legends tournament called Rising Stars. Riot Games has recently announced two new esports events, exclusively for female teams, to be held for League of Legends and Wild Rift. They previously announced two new esports tournaments solely for female teams.
The dual-elimination tournament, co-hosted online by Riot Games, college esports organizer NUEL, and tech firm GGTech, will be held November 26-27. The women-only offline game is not Riot Games’ first venture into supporting women in the esports scene. Riot Games recently announced a League of Legends female-only tournament called Rising Stars.
This September, it was reported by Esports News UK that Riot Games might plan on unveiling an official, worldwide women’s League of Legends Circuit. This circuit would, if all goes well, shed some light on female gaming, and thereby encourage greater diversity within the League of Legends professional scene. Riot Games North European competitive experience manager, Will Attwood, commented on the new stand-alone tournament, reinstating Riot Games’ commitment to increasing female participation.
According to a press release, player registration at the event will include gender verification, and this will be handled in-depth by DivE, an esports agency that is focused on gender diversity in the esports scene. It is not clear whether non-binary and trans competitors are welcome, and Riot Games said that the player’s registration would feature gender verification, in partnership with DivE, an organization that advocates for gender diversity within esports that has previously assisted in EMEA operations for Riot Games. In a move to foster inclusivity and opportunities within esports, Riot says every competing team is required to consist entirely of women aged at least 16.
The first tournament is set to take place online this November 26-27, focusing on Northern European regions, defined by Riot Games as including Britain, Ireland, and the Nordic countries, though players from other European regions are welcome as well. Rising Stars will be organized with GGTech Entertainment, an esports education technology company, and NUEL, the U.K.-focused esports platform.
Game Changers has been a great success for Valorant. It will continue to grow with Rising Stars, which will function as a standalone, local tournament, another example of what Riots and their partners can do to foster diversity and inclusivity within the esports community. VALORANT’s Game Changers, a tournament geared towards women and marginalized communities, has been a massive success, and it seems that Riot wants to keep up the inclusivity, with women-only tournaments coming up in the future.
