League of Legends and Valorant nominated for Esports Game of the Year award at Esports Awards 2021

Riot Games' League of Legends and Valorant have been shortlisted as finalists at the Esports Awards 2021 under the "Esports Game of the Year" category, which is in association with the Koyo Store.

Other games named alongside League of Legends and Valorant in the Mobile Game of the Year category include Overwatch, Counter Strike GO, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege, Free Fire, Rocket League, PUBG: Mobile, DOTA 2.

The finalists for Esports Game of the Year in association with @thekoyostore are:@LeagueOfLegends@PlayVALORANT@FreeFireBR @freefireeu@CSGO@CallofDuty@RocketLeague@Rainbow6Game@DOTA2@PUBGMOBILE@PlayOverwatch✅Vote now! https://t.co/vikY9wqyDZ pic.twitter.com/rk4Jm1dQfK

— Esports Awards (@esportsawards) June 24, 2021

Last year, the award was won by League of Legends, receiving the highest number of votes. Now, having been nominated again, Riot Games' MOBA will have the chance to make it to the top of the Esports Awards list once again in successive years.

However, with the entry of widely popular games like Garena Free Fire and PUBG: Mobile into the final pool, the competition for the crown will be more challenging for the Riot franchises this year.

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League of Legends and Valorant shortlisted for the Esports Awards 2021 - Esports Game of the Year

League of Legends and Valorant included in the final pool of the Esports Game of the Year 2021 category (Image via Esports Awards)

League of Legends, commonly referred to as League, is currently one of the most popular games in the world. Launched in 2009, the Multiplayer On Battle Arena (MOBA) video game, developed and published by Riot, was initially inspired by Defense of the Ancients, a custom map for Warcraft III.

Currently, with over 115 million monthly players (as of 2021) League of Legends has become one of the most reputed gaming franchises in the industry.

Regular updates, new releases of events, tournaments, and champions have kept League of Legends at the apex of the video game community for the past 11 years.

obvious one is League but with how fast valorant has grown it might go to valo this year

— d. (@DT95014548) June 24, 2021

Riot's second franchise at the Esports Awards 2021 nominee list, Valorant on the other hand, is a free-to-play first-person hero shooter game released in 2020.

Being on the final list for the second time in a row, Valorant fans will definitely want their favorite game to grab the "best" title this time. With over 14 million monthly players worldwide, Valorant is currently one of the most successful FPS games in the video gaming industry.

Esports Game of the Year award will be a difficult category to fight in this year. As the selection process takes 25% of the final public votes into consideration, it will be a tough contest for League of Legends and Valorant to win the category considering Free Fire, PUBG and DOTA 2 have broadened their player base in 2021, especially in Asia.