Riot Games creating 'League of Legends' eSports Championship Series

Riot Games is forming an eSports tournament for "League of Legends," including salaried teams and broadcasted matches.

Riot Games is creating an international pro league for League of Legends that will salary its teams and stream "television-broadcast quality" matches over the internet, the company announced today.

The League of Legends Season 3 Championship Series will be separate scheduled tournaments between Season 2's top eight teams from North America, Europe, and Asia. These teams will be offered salaries, and Riot Games will oversee prize pools and other compensation to ensure that the tournament is a "sustainable career choice" for its participants.

Matches will follow the traditional format of organized sports: a season will consist of several weekly matches culminating in regional playoffs and eventually a World Championship battle. These matches will be broadcast free in HD over the internet.

"Talking to players around the world, they repeatedly asked if we could kick League of Legends eSports into higher gear," said co-founder and CEO Brandon Beck in a press release. "The new League of Legends Championship Series is our answer. Millions of fans tune in every time we support a major League of Legends tournament, so we're broadening that support in an unprecedented way."

The top three teams from the upcoming Season 2 North American and European Regional competitions, held at PAX Prime in Seattle and Gamescom in Cologne respectively, will qualify for the Championship Series. Fans of the series catch a bit of tournament excitement from announcement trailer below.