Former Esports Head Comments About the Downfall of Wild Rift in the West
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When Riot Games announced that it shall halt its League of Legends: Wild Rift esports operations outside Asia for 2023, the game’s hype started to dwindle in the west. A lot of teams released their rosters and various talents shared their sentiments. A lot of fans also complained that Riot Games did not try hard enough to promote the game outside Asia which resulted in Wild Rift failing to meet expectations in the west.
Following this, the former esports head of Wild Rift, Leo Faria, commented on the issue, claiming that he and the rest of the people behind the scenes worked hard to promote the game.
Leo Faria talks about Wild Rift’s failure to become a global esports game
Back in November 2020, Leo Faria, shared his thoughts about Riot Games’ controversial decision to only focus on the Asian region for its Wild Rift esports scene. According to the former head of esports for the mobile MOBA title, the game is not yet large enough to warrant a truly global esports scene.
“I realize these news are disappointing. When we set to build Wild Rift as a sport we went all in, and I hope big moments like Icons made you proud. But we have to be realistic, look at each market individually and do things when the time is right. Some regions need more time,” wrote Faria.
“Our love for Wild Rift and commitment to mobile remains unchanged. We’re very grateful for everyone who poured their heart and soul to build the community with us. I hope you can find joy watching the best teams across Asia compete and continuing playing the game we love!” he added.
This Twitter statement caught the attention of fans and iconic Wild Rift personalities in the west with some looking forward to the return of Wild Rift esports leagues in the region while some criticize the management for giving up way too early.
“I fought tooth and nail for WRE,” says Leo Faria
Wikipedia Manager “hesketh2,” (also known as subzidite2) made a recent Tweet about Leo Faria discussing his plans for Valorant Esports for 2023. The post compared Faria’s journey in the Wild Rift esports (WRE) scene compared to Valorant. “Good to see Leo finally have things goes as he outlines it. His time during Comp WR it was with Impossible difficulty on + game issue so its expected so Him’s not fully to blame. With VAL they already had a good base for him to expand it.“
Leo Faria shortly replied to the Tweet, discussing the tough decisions that were made for Wild Rift esports.
“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,” wrote Faria.
Wild Rift is currently thriving in Asia as Riot Games announced the official league for 2023. Hopefully, the game grows in other regions as well, especially in the west, so that it may once again become a worldwide esport.
