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EXCLUSIVE: What League of Legends considers when creating virtual groups

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AC Coloma, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="EXO" s="" Baekhyun="" performs="" at="" League="" of="" Legends="" World="" Championship="" Finals="" Opening="" Ceremony="" Gocheok="" Sky="" Dome="" on="" November="" in="" South="" Korea.="" is="" the="" lead="" vocalist="" latest="" virtual="" group="" Heartsteel.="" Courtesy:="" Riot="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/11/22/hs.jpg"/><figcaption>EXO&#x27;s Baekhyun performs at League of Legends World Championship 2023 Finals Opening Ceremony at Gocheok Sky Dome on November 19, 2023 in Seoul, South Korea. Baekhyun is the lead vocalist of LoL&#x27;s latest virtual group Heartsteel. Courtesy: Riot Games. </figcaption></figure></div>Riot Games is one of the few developers to have successfully integrated music into their in-game content. In particular, Riot boasts a stacked roster in its music lineups, including the creation of musical groups. The latest in that lineup is Heartsteel, a boy group consisting of six League of Legends champions and voiced by artists of different genres. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/11/17/23/baekhyun-voices-fave-lol-champion-for-heartsteel">Full circle moment for Baekhyun as he voices fave LoL character for &#x27;Heartsteel&#x27;</a></li></ul>EXO&#x27;s Baekhyun, Los-Angeles-based rapper Cal Scruby, Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter and rapper ØZI, and Nigerian hip-hop/rap artist Tobi Lou lent their voices to characters Ezreal, Kayn, K&#x27;Sante, and Sett, respectively. &quot;Our music team did a wonderful job just pairing what personalities we have created with live artists. And so it was a perfect storm of the artist we picked. We really had good representations of the thing we had created in-game. And yeah I remember the first time watching the video and being blown away like &#x27;Yes, this is Kane, of course, this is Ezreal. They just did a phenomenal job matching that,&quot; Stephanie Leung, lead skins producer on League of Legends, told ABS-CBN News. Among the things Riot Games considers is making sure they won’t veer away from the identity of the character the artist will be portraying.“We want to make sure that these characters, at the end of the day, is still recognizable for players who are familiar with them and love them and have an established connection with them. You don’t wanna listen to Heartsteel, KDA, and True Damage and ‘look I wanna listen to Heartsteel and be like that’s Ezrael,” Riot Games lead concept artist Thomas Randby told ABS-CBN News, EXO member Baekhyun lent his voice to League of Legends character Ezreal, earning him the moniker &quot;Baekzreal.&quot; For Riot Games, having Baekhyun voice Ezreal aligned for them, given that he happens to main, or use the Champion most of the time. &quot;They have an iron-clad understanding of who these characters. We are willing and able to provide folks with information to get the context necessary that their performance. It must&#x27;ve just worked out that Baekhyun was an Ezrael main for such a long time and we had Ezreal in the lineup for Heartsteel,&quot; Leung said. Heartsteel precedes virtual hip-hop group True Damage, and virtual girl group K/DA, both of which reaped success in and outside the game. With Heartsteel debuting, many are curious what Riot has in store for K/DA, which last released music in 2020. Both Randby and Leung are willing to head back to the drawing board and prepare new projects related to the group. &quot;It&#x27;s something that&#x27;s fun about the music universe. I think reinvention and establishing new sounds and visuals is a huge part of not just what we do in the context of music in game but as artists as something people engage in and that&#x27;s something we want to be really intentional when we revisit our skinlines it&#x27;s carving out new visuals, effects, how skins can sound in the interest of keeping things fresh,&quot; Randby said.

In an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News, Riot Games shared what they consider when they create virtual groups, which are packaged as skin lines for their in-game characters. 

EXCLUSIVE: What League of Legends considers when creating virtual groups

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EXCLUSIVE: What League of Legends considers when creating virtual groups

AC Coloma,

ABS-CBN News

Published Nov 22, 2023 06:01 PM PHT

Read More:

Riot Games

League of Legends

Riot Games

Heartsteel

K/DA

Thomas Randby

Stephanie Leung

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