The Nexus, a League of Legends event in Middle East

Riot Games made headlines recently with their upcoming event, The Nexus. The Nexus is the first official League of Legends event held in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Along with this regional accomplishment, The Nexus is also a part of various activities making up the Riyadh season.

The Nexus will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for three days from Dec. 5 to Dec. 7. The event features a $2 million prize pool portioned among its tournaments, a range of exciting activities and three concerts.

Comprising The Nexus are five tournaments. The first, being the main event, is a five versus five competition for $850 thousand. Following the main event is a $750 thousand “Influencer tournament.” And the last three are a one-on-one tournament, a Teamfight Tactics tournament and a cosplay competition. Each competition will share and portion the leftover $400 thousand from the pool.

Delivering Local Experiences

In the announcement, Riot not only expressed the importance of outreach but the notion of player connection and game accessibility. METAI General Manager at Riot Games, Onur Tamer, played to Riot Games’ connections with the community announcement.

“We have been working on ways to deliver local experiences to our communities and players across the MENA region.” Onur added, “The Nexus is our first step in solidifying our presence in the region to support and celebrate our players. We are also looking at rolling out Arabic language support for all our products starting next year along with a localized version of League of Legends for all our players.”

Credit to Riot Games

Solidifying Presence

Along with the set tournaments, many activities will feature during the celebration. This event features twenty-three different activities from game modes, merch stores, Build-a-Tibber teddy bear creations and more.

Spicing up the event, a set of musical artists create the vibe during the open ceremony, first concert and second concert. Performing at the event are DJ Mako, an American DJ and singer-songwriter, The Crystal Method, an American duo of electronic artists and Jason Derulo, an American multi-award winning singer, songwriter, and dancer.

Riot Games speaks volumes with its introduction of The Nexus. The experience plants a seed in the region, and in the hearts of those who attend. In time, this will grow to be another branch of the ever-growing tree that is the esports industry.

Written by Jay Hunter

Featured Image credited to Esquire