Hong Kong – In retrospect to celebrating the game’s gameplay in China for a decade now, multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends has launched a new campaign alongside brand agency Superunion, which evokes memories of the game’s players in the country, who have been active now for a decade.

Called aptly as the ‘Annie-versary’ campaign, the title plays on one of the game’s well-known characters known as Annie, a child mage known to possess pyromantic abilities. Furthermore, the character has become of increasing importance to League of Legends players as a valuable and iconic champion.

Said campaign was developed using the insight from Riot Games that gamers love finding Easter eggs and the feeling of being truly part of a gaming community. It uses memes, secret words, and insider jokes, piecing them together to follow a protagonist’s 10-year gaming journey with League of Legends, sharing the wild ride with the gaming community.

Justin Kuo, head of creative, China Entertainment at Riot Games, said, ”Superunion has been the ideal partner for the campaign, as they truly understand the passion that our players have for our games and have helped us create a campaign that reflects the transformative power of being part of the gaming community.”

The film launched at the grand opening celebration event at Hangzhou Olympic Sport Centre and will be featured across all social media platforms and broadcast media.

Meanwhile, Maggie Chien, business director at Superunion China, commented, “It’s been an honor working with Riot Games China, with this particular project aligning perfectly with our creative revolution spirit. We worked as one global Superunion team to complete Riot’s 10th ‘Annie-versary’ film that integrates an impactful plot with top-notch visualizations, designed to evoke memories for all League of Legend gamers over the last 10 years.”

Singapore – Video game playing in the Asia-Pacific has risen to a new level, with consumers playing more than 9 hours of online games each week in 2020, a report by content delivery network company Limelight shows.

According to the study, the sudden spike in gaming has been driven by some gamers looking for social connections. More than 7 in 10 Asia Pacific gamers (72%) say they have made new friends through online games in the past year and more than one in three (36%) say the ability to interact with other players is extremely important. 

Furthermore, opportunities for interactivity and social engagement are likely drivers for video game adoption with the majority (79%) of global gamers saying they started playing video games in the past year.

Part of the growing numbers in the online gaming community is the high demands for next-generation consoles as gaming performance peaks. About three quarters (74%) of gamers are interested in purchasing a new console, due to updated technology (39%) and faster gameplay (37%. According to the study, gamers in China are most likely to consider upgrading their console (92%).

Such high rise of next-generation consoles comes with a higher demand for faster gaming experiences, as the study showed that five in 10 (51%) of Asia Pacific gamers cite this importance, also emerging as the top-cited significant aspect of game. In addition, 84% of gamers in the region say the process of downloading games is frustrating.

“Asia Pacific is home to some of the world’s most ardent gamers, and they are now looking to video games to provide an interactive, high performance, disruption-free experience that allows them to connect with others and play longer,” said Edwin Koh, director of Southeast Asia at Limelight.

The study showed the average APAC region gamer has played video games consecutively for four hours and 49 minutes. Young gamers ages 18 to 25 have binge-gamed for the longest, at an average of nearly five hours.

Gaming has also become a spectator sport. The report shows that 72% of Asia Pacific gamers say they’ve started to watch others play video games in the past year. The average gamer spends three hours and 36 minutes each week watching others play video games online and gamers in India spend the most time of any country surveyed (five hours and 18 minutes each week). Furthermore, more than three in five (67%) gamers say they prefer to play video games versus watching a movie or TV show.

“This evolution is putting pressure on gaming companies to match this demand with edge-based content and compute to deliver high-quality gaming environments to users across the globe,” Koh stated.