Riot Games Announce Partnership with Cisco

Leading American developers Riot Games has announced that they have signed a long-term deal with tech conglomerate Cisco, who will become the official networking partner for League of Legends Esports. As a result of the agreement between the duo, Cisco’s network infrastructure will now be installed at broadcast centres in 12 regions across the globe, specifically where Riot Games has already founded League of Legends events.

With the League of Legends World Championship set to take place in Shanghai from September 25 to October 31, Cisco’s impact should be visible instantly. According to the tech firm, they will help to reduce gameplay lag to below 1 millisecond for players as a result of their servers, which will certainly come as welcome news for LoL pros. Meanwhile, initial predictions estimate that network performance will be enhanced by up to 200% at the event later this year.

How Will Gameplay Be Improved by Cisco?

Cisco’s network will now power “The Realm”, which is the private server utilised by competitive League of Legends Esports encounters at three well-known events: The Mid-Season Invitational, League of Legends World Championship and All-Star Event. With professional LoL action now moving into its second decade, Cisco’s networking technology will deliver higher security, flexibility and reliability, whilst also improving the experience for viewers also.

Meanwhile, Riot Games will also receive additional technology upgrades from Cisco, including their UCS Blade and Rack Servers, along with their Nexus Date Centre Switches, which will also contribute to improvements in gameplay. With League of Legends being a game that requires rapid planning and reactions, a lack of lag is essential for pros. The partnership between Riot and Cisco will help to cater for near instant reaction times and uninterrupted gameplay, which will add up to a 200% improvement on the previous technology used.

Regional Broadcast Centres

Riot Games will also use over 200 new game servers in regional broadcast centres, which will be managed by Cisco’s Intersight SaaS solution. Additional software will also help to establish a common infrastructure model at the 12 centres, with improved virtualisation, storage and computing helping to enhance performance overall. Cisco blade notes will also support centres where new hardware is not required, allowing for new online Esports applications in the process.

Why the Deal Between Riot and Cisco is a Big Deal

League of Legends has become the biggest Esport in the world over recent years, with an average minute audience of over 21 million for the 2019 World Championship putting them on top of the pile. The likes of Mastercard and Louis Vuitton have all got in on the act of late, while Red Bull, State Farm and Secretlab are among the global LoL sponsors.