The 2017 League of Legends World Championship was Riot’s biggest endeavor to grow esports globally. It was the first time China hosted an esports event of that magnitude, and our objective was to make it specially tailored to the hosting region, while emphasizing the final stage held in Beijing, at the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium.
The visual concept was to simply find the juxtaposition of Chinese culture and League of Legends. With the help of a Chinese concept artist we reimagined the League of Legends universe through the lens of Chinese culture. We sculpted the two most legendary creatures from our game clashing for the Worlds Trophy. A metaphor for the competition. At the climax of the event we surprised the audience by bringing the Elder Dragon to reality at the Bird’s Nest. We used augmented reality to have the Elder Dragon flying through the stage in real time, punctuating the event’s opening ceremony.
The campaign’s success rippled beyond the gaming community by receiving Riot Games’ first Emmy Awards for excellence in Graphic Design, and taking down heavy-weight contenders such as the NBA Finals event.