League of Legendsdeveloper Riot Games takes a jab at Blizzard Entertainment in a new livestream.Riot Gamesmade the diss as it announced several major new games: a new card gameLegends of Runeterra, aLeague of Legendsfighting game, a hero shooter game, and more.
While announcing the mobile version ofTeamfight Tactics, the Riot employee joked that “it turns out, you guys do actually have phones.” For those out of the loop, it may seem like Riot is just making a joke about how most of its fans are hardcore PC gamers; however, this is also a jab at Blizzard for theDiablo Immortalannouncementthe company made last year.
Blizzard faced hugecriticism for announcing aDiablogame for mobilewhen fans were looking for a PC game announcement. In a Q&A session after theDiabloannouncement, a Blizzard developer seemed surprised that fans began booing and joked “do you guys not have phones?” The Riot livestream is theLeague of Legendsdeveloper having some fun at Blizzard’s expense.
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The Twitch clip of the Riot Blizzard jab has been viewed more than 200,000 times on Twitch. A look at the Twitch chat from when the jab was delivered live shows many users posting “LUL” and various versions of it, very amused that Riot found time for shade in such an important livestream.
However, some users on Reddit have suggested that companies in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Riot Games is “100% owned by tencent and are probably glad the e-rage is directed at blizz” wrote one user. TheDiablo Immortalcontroversy happened nearly a year ago, but this month, people have been upset at Blizzard for handing outpunishments to esports players who have expressed support for Hong Kong. Riot’s owners, Tencent, are Chinese and so adding to the Blizzard pile on can only help theLeague of Legendsdeveloper.
Riot also has something to gain from long-term backlash against Blizzard. Many of the games that Riot Games announced this week are in the same genre as Blizzard’s most popular titles.Legends of Runeterrais Riot’s answer to Blizzard’s card gameHearthstoneandRiot’sProject Ais its answer to Blizzard’s popular hero shooter,Overwatch. TheLeague of Legendsdeveloper isseemingly going right after Blizzard’s revenue, with its games and now through its jabs in livestreams too.
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