Nerd Street secures rights from Riot Games to host first Wild Rift North American Championship at Localhost Gaming and Esports Center in Denver

PHILADELPHIA, September 28, 2021 – Nerd Street Gamers, the national esports infrastructure company, officially announced their partnership with Riot Games along with Wisdom Gaming, to host North America’s first Wild Rift LAN (Local Area Network) Championship in North America. The tournament will take place over a three-day weekend at Localhost gaming and esports center in Denver, CO, in the month of October between the dates of the 8th and 11th. The Localhost facility in Denver, part of Nerd Street’s venue network, boasts 16,875 square feet of space for gamers of all skill levels to play, practice, and compete in their favorite games on professional-grade gaming equipment. Winners from this event will not only obtain a $70k prize pot, but will move on to represent North America at the 2021 Wild Rift Horizon Cup in Singapore.

Localhost gaming and esports centers are located across the country owned and operated by Nerd Street Gamers. Localhost serves as the premier location for esports competitions, bootcamps, training sessions, summer camps, and a wide variety of casual play video games. facilities have full live stream broadcast capabilities, high-end PCs, and the latest gaming consoles.

“Nerd Street is making strides in the mobile gaming industry, with this being our biggest move hosting the first North American in-person championship for Wild Rift,” said Steve Csikos, VP, Esports Operations and Strategy of Nerd Street Gamers. “As there are numerous similarities in the core values of Nerd Street and Riot Games, their continual company-wide support has allowed us to make history, all while keeping the focus on increasing accessibility and opportunities to all players.”

Nerd Street and Wisdom Gaming have led registration, design, operations, and production of this tournament since July and will continue through the Championships. Wisdom will produce the Championship broadcast, which will take place on Riot Games' official Wild Rift Twitch channel.

The Wild Rift Summoner Series LAN Championship will be a predominantly in-person event. With a $70k prize pot at stake, players have been offered to fly to Denver at Riot’s expense to increase competitive integrity by eliminating latency issues common in remote events. To ensure the health of players and staff, the venue will be closed to the public and COVID restrictions will be put in place and enforced throughout all aspects of this event. Though this is a LAN tournament, players who don’t wish to travel or who are not in compliance with COVID restrictions can continue to play remotely.

“We’re excited to bring together the best Wild Rift teams in North America, even if COVID has kept us from producing the show at the scale we originally envisioned,” said Chris Greeley, Head of Esports for North America at Riot Games. “Nerd Street and Wisdom have been great partners in bringing the Summoner Series to life, and we expect our championship weekend will deliver a great experience for pros and teams, and an exciting culmination to the season for fans.”

To stay up to date with the details of this upcoming event, follow Nerd Street @nerdstreet and nerdstreet.com, and Wisdom's Giant Slayer @GiantSlayerWR!

About Nerd Street Gamers

Nerd Street Gamers (Nerd Street) is a national network of esports facilities and events dedicated to powering competitive opportunities for gamers. The company promotes greater access to the esports industry, laying a national framework for esports talent development and high-quality gaming tournaments. Through Localhost, its gaming and esports centers across the country, the company provides opportunities for gamers of all ages and skill levels to participate in esports tournaments, camps, team training, private events like birthday parties, and hourly play for a wide variety of video games. Nerd Street has received backing from Five Below, Comcast Spectacor, SeventySix Capital, Elevate Ventures, angel investor George Miller, and Founders Fund.

For more information, follow @nerdstreet and nerdstreet.com.

About Wisdom

Wisdom Gaming is an emerging leader in esports production specializing in content creation, tournament organization, design, and strategic brand activation. From concept to completion, Wisdom’s diverse team of experienced esports minds offer turnkey creative and production services, tournament organization capabilities, and marketing strategy for brands and publishers passionate about establishing their legacy in esport and gaming.

About Riot Games:

Riot Games was founded in 2006 to develop, publish, and support the most player-focused games in the world. In 2009, Riot released its debut title, League of Legends, to worldwide acclaim. League has gone on to be the most-played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports.

As League enters its second decade, Riot continues to evolve the game while delivering new experiences to players with VALORANT, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and multiple work-in-progress titles. Riot is also expanding the world of Runeterra through multimedia projects across music, comic books, board games, and the upcoming animated series Arcane.