VALORANT and League of Legends in The Nationals? Why not says Riot Games exec

With Riot Games' massive expansion this year, the possibility of bringing VALORANT and League of Legends to The Nationals, the Philippines' first eSports franchise league, may become a reality according to Riot Philippines’ country manager Joel Guzman.

Guzman opened the idea during a roundtable interview at the Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS) 2022 where thousands of fans flocked the SMX Convention Center to witness the showcase of different electronic sports and gaming brands.

"We understand and we recognize PeSO (Philippine Esports Organization) as one of the leading organizations for esports in the Philippines. What I can say is we're open to collaborating with them specific to 'The Nationals' or specific to any other events that we can because I feel that as a publisher, we have to be open to work with organizations like PeSO and maybe other organizations," he said.

Since its inauguration in 2019, The Nationals has been one of the biggest esports events in the Philippines that showcased professional esports athletes in Tekken 7, Call of Duty Mobile, DOTA 2, among others.

"We really want to delight our fans. That’s always been the blueprint of what Riot Games is," said Guzman.

"We wanted to delight our current players as well as create opportunities for people who haven't tried our games to like: 'Hey what's VALORANT all about? What’s Wild Rift all about?' We wanted to have more inclusivity for these players who may not have tried our games yet. So we want to be open to a broader audience as much as we can."

The Riot PH country manager also revealed several planned community events in different islands of the Philippines next year to bring the games closer to its fan base.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News