Sydney’s State Theatre will host the 2018 League of Legends esports tournament Rift Rivals. In an announcement this week, Riot games has teamed up with Event Hospitality and Entertainment to bring the event to Australia for the first time.
Rift Rivals sees the best teams across Oceania, Japan and Southeast Asia compete over four days at the State Theatre in Sydney from July 2nd to 5th.
The Rift Rivals League of Legends tournament is a premiere event that hopes to attract millions of viewers from the Asia-Pacific region with those unable to get tickets having to tune in online.
Players like Oceania’s Shern “Shernfire” Tai from Dire Wolves, Japan’s Kyohei “Ceros” Yoshida from DetonatioN FocusMe, and SEA’s Nuttapong “G4” Menkasikan from Ascension Gaming will battle for glory, bragging rights and to see who holds the ultimate balance of power in the region.
Rift Rivals Format
- Five events with two or three regions each (14 regions total)
- SEA, JP, OCE
- BR, LAN, LAS
- NA, EU
- VN, CIS, TR
- KR, CN, TW/HK/MO
- Teams invited & seeded based on rankings in the most recent Spring Split / Split 1 / Opening Split of each region, with between two and four teams representing each region
- Each event will include a group stage and a knockout phase, but the rules vary between each matchup. For example, the NA-EU final will be the top-placing NA team against the top-placing EU team in a best-of-5, while the KR-CN-LMS finals are under Last Man Standing rules where one region wins by defeating every team from the opposing region.
The announcement follows other League of Legends expansions this year including a ‘League of Origin’ partnership with AFL Australia. While Melbourne may be the home of Football, Sydney won’t give up the esports scene without a fight.
Event Hospitality and Entertainment’s General Manager of Entertainment, Luke Mackey said:
“The EVENT team are passionate about bringing fans together for shared cultural and entertaining experiences. We are delighted to provide the League of Legends community a place to gather and compete on an international stage. This tournament is just the beginning of our esports offering, and we look forward to bringing more gaming events to our cinema and theatre audiences in the future.”
Daniel Ringland, Head of Oceanic Esports at Riot Games said:
“Bringing Rift Rivals to this spectacular live venue on home turf would not be possible without EVENT. We know how important live tournaments are for our fans; they bring us together to share in the thrill of watching League of Legends played at the very highest level. The fact it’s Oceania’s three best teams competing is just icing on the cake.”
Tournament tickets go on sale Friday 1 June and start at $49, while no word of bonuses or skin-codes, there are often thrown in at these kind of events. For those looking for a premium experience there are an extremely limited amount of VIP tickets available which include playing a game on the Rift Rivals stage and backstage meet-and-greets with the pros and on-air talent.
