In this article, we review the solutions for structuring your competition circuit to engage players, help them progress and create great storytelling. Between professional leagues, amateur or community tournaments, discover which ones have proven themselves and been adopted by Riot Games and EVA in France.
As a publisher or esports game studio, you may have wondered how to structure your ecosystem and official competition circuit. Of course, there is not one single solution and an official competition circuit depends in particular on its game, its target audiences, its sources of funding and the priorities and objectives of the publisher.
After more than 2 decades of esports, certain principles have proven themselves and can now be found in many official competition circuits. Here are the main ones to remember, followed by the case studies of Riot Games and EVA competitive circuit in France.
Help your players progress
One of the primary goals of a competitive circuit is to engage players as regularly as possible in the game and to help them progress through tournaments.
While you need to address to both amateur and professional players, it is important to offer tournaments based on each player’s level. Indeed, there is nothing more demotivating for players than continually losing to stronger players because the matches are too unbalanced. This principle also has the virtue of allowing players to progress more easily by pitting them against opponents of a similar level.
It is therefore important to organize your circuit as much as possible into different tiers of play. It is the same principle as in-game matchmaking but applied to an official competition circuit.
This architecture can be applied by establishing different leagues in which players participate according to their level. Between each season of the different leagues, a system of promotion and relegation between participants ensures their renewal and a constant rebalancing.
To group players according to their tier, it is also possible to go through qualification stages. Thus, qualifying tournaments are organized upstream of your highest leagues. They are open to amateur players, the best of whom then join the best players at the next stage of your competition circuit.
A competition circuit at the service of your storytelling
Grouping together participants of the same tier helps improve the attractiveness and audiences of your official competition. The more balanced the matches are, the more uncertain their outcomes are and the more they generate interest among fans. Structuring your competition circuit with leagues also creates a recurrence in the clashes between participants, rivalries and regular meetings for fans.
The LFL days organized by Webedia, where French League of Legends pro teams compete on stage
On the other hand, even if you separate players based on their level of play, it is important to give amateurs the opportunity to face the pros. Some of the greatest stories are written around the most improbable performances where David defeats Goliath. It is also a great driver of engagement for all players to dream of knocking off the favorites and being put in the spotlight.
To do this, you can organize cups in parallel with your leagues that bring together amateurs and professionals. The latter can enter the tournament after a few rounds, once there are only a certain number of amateur participants left.
Addressing more distinct player profiles
The larger your player community, the more you can divide your leagues and tournaments based on other criteria. Geographic location is the most obvious but not the only one. It helps avoid issues with different time zones and internet connection quality between players. You can thus divide your leagues at a regional, national or language tier.
But you can go even further by offering tournaments dedicated to distinct player profiles based on social criteria. Some publishers have long offered leagues reserved for students, female players or even companies and their employees.
Final of La Coupe des Etoiles, an only women League of Legends tournament organized by Riot Games and Webedia
Leagues of Legends in France, a network of tournaments for accessibility and discovery
The organization of the League of Legends competition in France by Riot Games is a very good illustration of these fundamentals. In a few years, Riot Games France has created leagues and tournaments to appeal to the greatest number of people and create unique stories.
The famous LFL is the highest national league and brings together the 10 best French professional teams. Its little sister, the DIV2, arrived a few years later with 10 new teams on board. Between each season, the 2 best teams of the DIV2 face the last 2 of the LFL in an epic clash which generates a lot of excitement for the French fanbase. The winners join the LFL for the next season and losers get relegated to the DIV2.
LoL LFL website released with Toornament solution
At the same time, Riot Games France supports amateur teams by organizing the Nexus Tour competition circuit. It is open to all players not participating in the LFL or DIV2 without level restrictions. The Nexus Tour is a series of online and LAN tournaments organized by the community in which teams earn points based on their results. At the end of the season, the best teams compete in Playoffs, then play matches against the last ranked teams of the DIV2 to join it.
Recently, Riot Games France created the French Cup of League of Legends. This tournament gives a chance to amateur teams from the Nexus Tour to face DIV2 and LFL teams. Amateur teams first compete against each other in qualifying cups. The best of them then meet the DIV2 teams, then the winners will finally challenge the professional teams of the LFL.
French Cup of League of Legends website released with Toornament solution
As we explained, Riot Games France also addressed very distinct categories of players. They created one by one the Grosse Ligue for students, the Coupe des Etoiles for women’s teams and even the Ligue Corpo for French corporate teams.
EVA’s esports ecosystem from grassroot to top
The company Esports Virtual Arenas (EVA) uses the same approach to manage its esports ecosystem and official competition circuit in its physical centers. But unlike Riot Games France, E.V.A has grouped all of its official competitions on a single tournament website at https://competitive.eva.gg.
In parallel with the many center openings over the past 4 years, EVA has multiplied the launch of leagues and cups to engage more and more players of different tiers and profiles, and help them progress. The company details the structuring of its competition circuit very well on a dedicated page on its website.
Thus, new players can start by participating in local leagues managed by each local center. They allow them to get introduced to the competitive world while playing against teams of similar skill levels. This is the case for example of the center of the city of Bayonne, in the southwest of France, with its league, itself divided into several sub-divisions and seasons.
Local league from EVA competitive website powered by Toornament
Then, EVA offers the best teams from local leagues to join the Ligue 2, which this time sees teams from different centers compete across the country.
Finally, the best of them can earn their slot in the Ligue 1. This is the prestigious league where the best teams compete. With regular competition days and a structured season, this league represents the pinnacle of competition in the EVA ecosystem.
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