CHICAGO — League of Legends will move its North American servers to Chicago, a move that's expected to improve and balance the game's speed among players.
League of Legends, known as LoL or League, is an online multiplayer game where users typically compete individually or as part of a team to conquer other players' bases. The game has amassed an enormous following with millions of followers and millions in prizes for those who prove to be the top player during eSports tournaments (even Robert Morris University has gotten in on the action).
But, League's servers are in Portland on the West Coast, which is "directly contributing to markedly inferior service for a huge number of East Coast players," according to a post from Riot Games, the makers of League.
"Chicago, on the other hand, happens to be one of the best connected cities in the entire world, let alone in North America," Riot Games said in its post. "With more bandwidth running through it, more fiber running through it, and more data center space than any other North American city, plus a central location and role as a major exchange between the U.S. and Canada, Chicago is simply the premier place to provide the best overall service for the far-flung NA player base."
In short: Moving the servers to Chicago will mean players across North America have an improved connection to the game, leading to gameplay lagging less for those not situated on the West Coast and creating a more even battleground experience among players.
Riot Games will do live testing of the new servers during the next one to two weeks, but it does not yet have a date for when it will make the full switch to using servers in Chicago. More information will be available in the coming weeks.
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