Wild Rift Icons is the equivalent of Worlds for League of Legends. In essence, it’s the biggest global competition for the year, and is sure to become an annual event. But unlike League of Legends PC, Wild Rift isnt nearly as popular. Both in terms of its esport and general appeal. So those reading this article may be thinking, does Wild Rift Icons worth watching at all?
Whether readers are massively committed fans who have successfully climbed the ranked ladder, casual players who moved to Wild Rift from League PC for shorter games, or even brand new to the franchise, watching Icons is imperative. And here’s why.
[Related: Wild Rift OP picks for Pro Play]
Click the link below for the video version.
Prize Pool
Wild Rift Icons has a prize pool of $2 million US dollars. It’s been one of the BIGGEST marketing factors advocating the global tournament. Keep in mind, this isn’t the TOP prize reward. The actual rewards are $640,000 for first place, $320,000 for second, and so on. Click here for more information. The prize pool ensures that the best teams that manage to make a name for themselves have some momentum going forward.
The prize pool shows that Riot is actively investing into the competitive side, and signifies less risk for third party investors looking to get involved. When companies look to sponsor creators or professional teams/players, the people in charge always have to ask themselves, ‘will I be able to earn any real money from this? And will my investment increase the company’s brand recognition?’
Icons essentially allows companies to see the potential for the games future, something that’s definitely been in question by a lot of the Western demographic. The committed players know the game is going to succeed, and believe in Wild Rift. But the rest of the populace who have yet to commit to the game or haven’t tried to gain a deeper understanding of the gains road map still vastly underestimate the game.
But what about the casual players, who don’t really care about the top level players?
Content Creation
Well, let me ask you this. Do you watch Wild Rift content? And do you want better quality, more relatable creators? At the moment, the Wild Rift content creation community honestly lacks high quality productions. Many of the creators put in minimal effort in edits, and instead capitalize on their personality and general name recognition to get by.
And honestly, this is the most efficient and smart thing to do as a Wild Rift content creator. But why is this?
Well, it all goes back to the money issue. There’s really not enough money and viewership to motivate companies to continuously invest into creators to be able to successfully produce high quality videos. Especially when, in their eyes, Wild Rift isn’t a product worth investing into. That’s why it just makes sense to content creators to either move to other games, like Assassin Dave, or to create what works for them while minimizing the necessary effort.
That’s also partially the reason why ProGuides Wild Rift shut down. They’re a western/US company, who used to invest heavily into the games foundation. And it honestly sucks that the West doesnt see the game’s potential.
Believe it or not, content creators need to eventually earn money too to eat and survive.
This circles back to the fact that Riot is investing money into the scene. Think back to so many of the players who managed to become famous League of Legends streamers. For example, Shiphtur, Imaqtpie, Doublelift, Voyboy. They all have one major thing in common: they played professionally in League of Legends.
What this allowed them to do was gain a following on the big screen, where players could relate to them through their plays, their narratives, and gained them name recognition.
If the community supports and watches Icons, and show the professional players that there is a following to be had here, some of the esports athletes will attempt to stream and create content following this event.
In conclusion
And the last point is watch to see which region is the best in the world. So much of the community thinks that some Asian country will win. And though the writer is personally rooting for T1, because they’re just super loyal to the T1 brand name, they’re also keeping an eye on EU regions as well. The event is sure to be hype. Make sure to show your love and support for the game.
Wild Rift Icons is a very important stage in Wild Rifts growth, and is sure to become a key event in the mobile game’s history. Though the Esport has been a little sleeper, it’s about to become one of the biggest redeeming factors for support of the game. So when asking ‘Is Wild Rift Icons worth watching,’ at least give it a shot.
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