Riot Games announced this week that it has plans to launch a second platform in Europe to support League of Legends play. Starting soon, service in Europe will be split between two regional platforms called EU Nordic & East and EU West.

League of Legends, now almost two years old, was launched in North America and Europe in late 2009. The strategy-action game is now played by millions in session-based, multiplayer battles.

President of Riot Games Marc Merrill said, “League of Legends first came to Europe just over a year ago, and the growth of our community there has been astonishing. Our number-one goal is to provide an exceptional player experience for League of Legends worldwide, and the addition of a second platform in Europe will enable even more players to enjoy such an experience.”

The League of Legends Season One Championship, a $100,000 tournament, concluded Wednesday, June 22 as part of the world’s largest digital festival, Dreamhack, in Sweden. TeamFNaticMSI became the world champions, and Riot says that over 1,690,000 unique viewers tuned in to see the live coverage online.

In Champion news, Riot returned to its usual schedule of champion releases and balance changes after Sweden, according to an LoL forum post, releasing Yorick the Gravedigger as part of the June 22 patch. Upcoming champions are said to be Leona, the Radiant Dawn, and Skarner, the Crystal Vanguard. Both were revealed at this year’s E3; they do not have set release dates yet but are scheduled soon.

Check Leona the female tank out here:

For more information on the tournament, visit season-one-championship.na.leagueoflegends.com. To join League of Legends and to get the latest news on upcoming Champions, visit www.leagueoflegends.com.