TriplePoints of Interest – Week of September 12

Image Courtesy: University of California, Irvine

This week in TriplePoints of Interest Riot Games announces 103 million monthly player milestone, UC Irvine is opening the first college esports arena, and Blizzard Entertainment’s Chriz Metzen retires.

Riot Games announces 103 million monthly player milestone

Riot Games is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Alongside a video looking back on the history of Riot Games and League of Legends, the developer has announced that League of Legends has reached a massive milestone of 103 million monthly players. The gaming developer last revealed user numbers more than two years ago, at which point 67 million people were playing the game on a monthly basis, says LA Times.

 

College sports’ first esports arena is coming to UC Irvine

The University of California, Irvine will officially open a 3,500-square-foot esports arena on September 23rd, making it the world’s first esports arena at a public university. The arena is packed with 80 gaming PCs loaded with top esports titles, a webcasting studio, and viewing screens. The arena was created with financial and consultation support from Riot Games. The computers were provided by iBuyPower, which is also providing support for program costs and scholarships. Other items such as chairs, monitors, and peripherals were donated by Logitech, Asus, and Vertagear. The arena will serve as a home base for the UC Irvine’s gaming organizations and a place for its competitive players to train. Mashable says that this will be another great step forward for collegiate esports across the country!

 

Blizzard Entertainment’s Chris Metzen retires

Chris Metzen, Senior VP of Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard Entertainment, has announced his retirement from the company after 23 years. Metzen is known for his work across the Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft series, and also served as creative director on Overwatch, reported Kotaku. In a blog post on the Battle.net forums, Metzen thanked his Blizzard colleagues and explained that he wanted to focus on his family.