Riot Games Unveils Viewer Rewards Program for World Championship and Beyond
League of Legends developer Riot Games will introduce a viewer rewards program for its esports content. Starting with next month's World Championship, viewers will earn in-game items through so-called "Watch Missions," some of which will be exclusive to the program.
- Riot Games has created an esports viewer incentive program called "Watch Missions".
- The initiative will debut with the World Championship next month.
- Watch Missions not only incentivize active players to watch esports, but will encourage viewers to log in and play League of Legends.
Watch Missions will debut on Sept. 30 and remain active through Nov. 10. To earn rewards, viewers must watch the World Championship on the official website through the embedded Twitch and YouTube broadcasts. Rebroadcast viewers on non-Riot channels of the World Championship will not be eligible for rewards, despite Riot having recently encouraged rebroadcasts of the North American League of Legends Championship Series.
Activision Blizzard introduced its own viewer incentive program to the Overwatch League earlier this year through its partnership with Twitch. While both initiatives reward players for watching esports matches, Riot has taken the idea one step further. Players can also receive Watch Missions incentivizing them to play specific characters that were used during the World Championship broadcast. In essence, Watch Missions not only incentivize active players to watch esports, but will encourage viewers to log in and play League of Legends.
Riot's announcement emphasized that the World Championship is just the beginning for Watch Missions. The company will use this event to test the program and collect feedback for future iterations.
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