On November 15, 2023, Media Day was held in Seoul, which Riot Games dedicated to the League of Legends Worlds final, ready to break the audience record. In fact, as presented by Esportschart, Sunday’s semi-final saw 4.3 million connected users at its peak, ranking third among esports tournaments.
China vs Korea
On November 11, the Chinese derby between Weibo Gaming and Bilibili Gaming, probably not the most famous teams in Beijing, reached a maximum of 2.2 million viewers, an aggregate figure on the various international streaming platforms (except the Chinese ones) . The next day, probably due to the presence of the Korean T1 that is playing the 2023 World Cup at home, the peak rose to 4.3 million. Also generating interest was the fact that JD Gaming was considered a favorite against Faker and his teammates (as we told you a few days ago).
With these premises, the World Cup final between Weibo Gaming and T1, therefore between a Chinese team and a Korean team, can aspire to collect the legacy left by the final a year ago in which DRX were present, then winners, and a again T1. he came out defeated. In 2022, the peak stopped at 5.147 million viewers, a figure about which, however, a clarification must be made: for Europe, one of the regions undoubtedly interested in following the final act of the competition, the match began 1 in the morning, Italian time. It ends around 6 in the morning. This year, however, the departure is scheduled for 9, Italian time.
Media day
Before the official presentation of the two teams and the match, Riot Games hosted the two groups of singers who gave voice to the two songs, GODS and Paranoia, at the Media Day, which will also be part of the performance at the opening ceremony of the final. Initially it was the turn of Heartsteel, a virtual band created by Riot Games, with the four (real) singers who talked about their experience. Baekhyun in particular said that he himself is a League of Legends player: “I played for a long time, even when I started my adventure in the music group Exo. It’s a game that I love, when they asked me to join Heartsteel I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t ask any more questions. I immediately thought about accepting.”
More composed are NewJeans, a relatively recent Kpop group (which we talked about here). In addition to the backstory of one of them who admitted to being a Garen player, they made it clear that singing the 2023 World Cup anthem is a true honor for them. “Being chosen to sing the 2023 World Cup anthem was exciting and overwhelming for us. “It means a lot to us and we are very excited to be able to sing at the opening ceremony of the final in front of millions of viewers around the world.”
Weibo vs T1
Instead, the third phase of the Media Day directly involved the teams. The first to take the stage were Weibo Gaming, convinced that they could achieve an excellent result even though T1 had faced and defeated the other three Chinese teams so far. “We will beat T1 3-1,” commented Crisp, Weibo support and already world champion in 2019 with Funplus Phoenix in Paris. “It is true that T1 has already defeated the other LPL teams, but the finals match will be the end of this positive streak.” Weibo, the winner of the draw, elected to start the first match of Sunday’s final on the blue side of the Rift.
Zeus, T1’s topplanner, instead emphasized how his relationship has matured with TheShy, world champion in 2018 with Invictus Gaming, whom he finds today as an opponent on Weibo. “It was nice to meet each other and exchange shirts,” he told the press present. “We wish each other great performances in the final. On the other hand, since the Summer Split we have become very close, we have exchanged ideas and we have learned a lot from each other. For me he is a player with a lot of experience, one of the best in the world.”