“Italy could be one of the most important countries in Europe,” says Riot on Riftbound’s possible number of players after first Regional Qualifier was held in Bologna

Riftbound’s first international Regional Qualifier in the EMEA region took place this past weekend in Bologna. According to Riot Games, the event featured 3.000 attendees and over half of them also competed in the main tournament. As the first international event for EMEA, the Bologna Qualifier positioned Italy at the center of Riftbound’s growing competitive ecosystem—and for good reason.

In an interview with Sheep Esports, Nicola Cencherle, Director of Country Publishing EMEA for Riftbound, shares more insights on the event and how it came to be. Speaking about the relationship between Riftbound and League of Legends’ communities, Cencherle shares Italy’s potential within the European ecosystem and how feedback from the Bologna Qualifier will help shape future Riftbound events.

Nicola Cencherle: “One of the most important parts of my work is supporting the community, therefore supporting the creators. The more we try to support the creators, the more the community will be informed and connected to the product, and I think they will also be happier to receive the information. And I don’t work alone, there is a team, and the most important part is definitely giving the information to our communities, supporting it, and creating events where they can participate. This is the most interesting part for me.

Cencherle: They are fueling [each other]. There are many people who come from the world of League of Legends—or who have stopped playing it—who have already discovered Riftbound and are starting to play the card game. Let’s say that the communities are still very connected because, in the end, Riftbound is based in the world of LoL, and the champions are from League, so there is a lot of connection there.

However, they are two completely different communities. Those who come from the world of card games and have never played LoL and are discovering the world of League. What we are seeing is that there are interesting synergies because those who know the world of League of Legends can explain to those who do not know it the differences between the champions. But also there are those who know how to play card games who are teaching the LoL community how to play Riftbound.

Cencherle: Italy, for Riftbound, is one of the most important countries in Europe. Italy has a significant tradition in TCGs and also in collecting cards, therefore Riftbound will reach many more people than we reached with League of Legends. League has a very, very solid community, very tight here in Italy, however it is not one of the biggest communities that we have in Europe. But Italy could be one of the most important countries in Europe in terms of how many players will play Riftbound.

We are seeing the numbers in terms of how many stores are selling Riftbound, how many stores are organising tournaments, and also the requests we are receiving from creators are very, very high. Therefore, we expect that Italy, with Riftbound, will probably become a protagonist, at a country level, probably more than it has been with League of Legends.

Cencherle: We are obviously very happy. We were always very optimistic and also ambitious, so I’d say that the event met our expectations. Obviously, when we launched ticket sales there were many more requests compared to what we could offer. However, we had many people who came only to participate, to see the event or to do the side events. We are very, very happy that, in fact we oriented practically the whole area [to side events]. The feedback in general that we are receiving recently is very, very positive, but we know that there are some things to improve, we hope to bring some changes in the next events, however we are very, very happy for the Regional Qualifier here in Bologna.

Cencherle: Yes, I cannot give the details yet, but there were comments or things that we could see here in Bologna that probably are not the best experiences for players that we need to change and improve. We are already thinking about what we could do to limit a bit certain things that we have seen, but we have also noticed positive things that we will probably try to bring back to the next events.

Cencherle: My invitation is to try to participate in an event. Even if a person does not feel prepared to compete, the only way to try is to come to an event. And the event is very, very fun, not only if you compete, but it’s fun even if you are not a competitor. If you do not know the game well, there are lots of things to do. You meet many new people, you can also meet your favorite creators, and you can meet people from Riot who created the game, so it is a very fun, very beautiful experience. I truly invite everyone to try to be there, even if competition is an important aspect of it.”