Riot Games to Launch 'Rising Stars' League of Legends Women's Tournament: How to Register and What We Know So Far

Riot Games opens its doors to women in esports for its newest League of Legends tournament, Rising Stars.

Taking place between Nov. 26 to 27, the Rising Stars League of Legends tournament invites women all across Europe to compete for a £3,000 ($3,413.25) prize pool.

According to ESports Insider, the tournament is primarily geared towards players from the Northern European region but will still be open to the rest of Europe. Riot Games first announced the women's tournament in their official Twitter account for League of Legends in the UK, Ireland & Nordics.

The news comes after Riot Games' biggest esports tournament, League of Legends Worlds Championship, concluded with DRX claiming this year's Summoner's cup against T1.

How to Register for Rising Stars League of Legends Tournament

Riot Games recently launched Rising Stars' official Twitter, with its first tweet an invitation for women in esports. The tweet includes a link to register and join the league's official Discord server. Registration for the League of Legends tournament closes on Nov. 22.

According to EuroGamer, it is currently unclear whether non-binary and transgender competitors are allowed to participate. However, Riot Games stated that the player registration "will include gender verification in collaboration with DivE, an organization promoting gender diversity in esports who already assists in the EMEA operation of Riot Games' VCT Game Changers tournament and Wild Circuit Game Changers."

Additionally, interested female players are required to have a League of Legends account that is "in good standing". The tournament will be played on the EUWest server.

Riot Games Creating Creating Equal Opportunities in the Gaming Industry

In 2021, Riot Games was the subject of controversial headlines for being involved in a gender-based discrimination class-action suit with its former female employees, settling the suit with $100 million, specifically $80 million to the victims and $20 million toward the complainants' legal fees, according to the Washington Post.

The suit comes after an expose from Kotaku went viral regarding the culture of sexism in Riot, which described the company's history of sexual harassment and a sexist hiring and promotion process that proved unfavorable for female employees.

However, Riot Games has since evolved from the issue, now having a diversity and inclusion team of ten. Additionally, Riot Games' leadership team is comprised of 21.5% women and a total of 25.8% female population for the company.

The move to launch the all-women League of Legends tournament, Rising Stars, is reportedly a way to promote inclusivity in the gaming industry, according to Riot Games Competitive Experiences Manager for Northern Europe Will Attwood.

"Riot Games is committed to creating more opportunities for women gamers. Game Changers has been a huge success for VALORANT and will continue to expand into other games." According to Attwood.

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Written by: Andi C.