Game developer Riot Games has announced that the League of Legends Worlds Qualifying Series will be moved from its initial location in North America to South Korea.
In a post on X (Twitter), the company noted that the match between North America and Europe’s fourth seeds will be moved to give teams more time to prepare for the competition in its host region.
The change also aims to minimise travel for included teams and allow for scrim matches to happen easier. The match will take place at LoL Park in Seoul, South Korea, on October 9th.
The Worlds Qualifying Series is a new part of the qualification for the League of Legends World Championship. The Series is actually a best-of-five match that pits the fourth seed of the LEC against the fourth seed in the LCS to qualify for the play-in stage of the Worlds. The high-stakes nature of the match is expected to further promote the teams, their respective leagues and the World Championship itself.
Initially scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, the event was now moved to South Korea, the host country of the 2023 Worlds. In a social media post, Riot Games explained that there are several reasons for the move, ranging from finances to logistics.
The LoL Esports X channel shared the following explanation: “We have elected to move the event to South Korea to allow the two potential teams as much time as possible to prepare in the host region, minimise travel, and scrim against qualified Worlds teams before the Play-In Stage.”
LCS team Golden Guardians has already secured a slot in the Worlds Qualifying Series, and are waiting to find out their opponent. The European team participating in the Series will be known following the LCS Season Finals, taking place in August and September. This will either be G2 Esports, MAD Lions, Team BDS, EXCEL ESPORTS, Fnatic or SK Gaming.
