Gamers from all over the world recognize League of Legends. It’s probably one of the biggest video games in the industry right now, and has been for more than a decade.
Even if you didn’t play or download League of Legends because you were busy with another MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game, you probably have seen the game for their amazing cinematics and most recent animated series, Arcane.
Today, we delve into League of Legends and go through the numbers to understand why this is Riot Games’ most popular game of all time.
And no, we won’t be talking about win-loss ratios or KDAs or the most played champions. We’ll be looking at the demographics for the League of Legends player base, their revenue stream over the last few years, Twitch viewers, and much more.
Key League of Legends Statistics
- League of Legends is one of the highest grossing F2P game. In 2020, the game earned $1.75 billion in revenue [1].
- League of Legends earned $2.1 billion at the peak of its popularity in 2017 [2].
- The average player spending for League of Legends is $119 [3].
- There are 180 million monthly active users recorded for League of Legends [5].
- League of Legends has been downloaded at least 180 million times (estimated) based on several data [5], [6], [7].
- As of August 2022, the 30-day average for active players is more than 150 million [6].
- As of 2021, there are about 715,000 concurrent players recorded [7].
- 87% of the League of Legends population is male, and 12% are female [9].
- Korea currently has the highest number of players with more than 10 million players logged in daily and a total population of 20 million players [11], [12].
- South Korea is the highest earning country for League of Legends in the esports arena, having won more than $30 million from all events to date [15].
League of Legends Overview
But first, what exactly is League of Legends?
League of Legends belongs to the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre and was first released in 2009 by Riot Games.
The game puts 2 teams of 5 players each against one another in combat. The goal is to destroy the enemy’s Nexus, which is housed on the opposite side of the map. The map is divided into three major lanes: top lane, bottom lane, and the middle lane (or mid). Each lane has three sets of towers that players will have to push through right alongside minions that automatically spawn in intervals.
These two teams of five players will have to choose among different champions, each with unique abilities, and to dominate their corresponding lane. League of Legends players will fight one on one in certain lanes, or in groups, to achieve victory. The goal of the game is simple: destroy the enemy’s base and their Nexus. Or make them surrender.
The average game length for League of Legends is about 20 to 30 minutes, with the option for early surrender at 15 minutes in. However, early surrender needs to be completely unanimous and that all 5 players will have to vote YES.
League of Legends is a free-to-play or F2P game with no paywall, but how exactly is it generating revenue?
The answer is simple. Cosmetics. Players can purchase cosmetic products called SKINS, which changes the appearances (and sometimes the entire visual effects) of champions. League of Legends players can also purchase Summoner Icons (or avatar), Battle Passes (when available), Chromas (skin recolor palettes), Ward Skins, and IP/Exp Boosts.
Technically speaking, you can enjoy League of Legends without having to spend a single cent. Champion rosters rotate once a week so you can always play different champions every week. Players can purchase a League of Legends champion through IP earned from games, or through RP. RP, or Riot Points, is the game’s in-game currency which you can purchase for real money. Riot Points are then used to purchase the aforementioned cosmetics above.
Today, League of Legends is one of the biggest MOBA games of all time and its popularity continues to rise.
League of Legends Revenue Statistics
- League of Legends is one of the highest grossing F2P game globally, earning $1.75 billion in 2020. Honour of Kings is the highest grossing title with $2.45 billion earned for that same year [1].
- At its peak, League of Legends earned $2.1 billion in revenue for 2017 and $1.8 billion in 2016 [2].
- League of Legends’ average player spending is $119 [3].
- League of Legends: Wild Rift, the mobile version of the game, has earned $21.14 million for this year, spanning January 2022 up to May 2022. That number will be higher as the year closes. In 2021, the mobile game earned $57.93 million [4].
How Many Players Does League of Legends Have?
- League of Legends recorded 180 million monthly active users (MAU).
- This not only covers League of Legends, but also League of Legends: Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra, Fight for the Golden Spatula, and Teamfight tactics [5].
- As of August 2022, the 30-day average for monthly active players is 151,102,355 players [6].
- Within the same time period, there were 130,510,366 Twitch viewers for League of Legends.
- In 2021, League of Legends recorded 715,000 concurrent players [7].
- While it’s not the actual player count, or official count, League of Legends has about close to 180 million registered users [6].
- This data may be inaccurate to some extent because this does not cover just all the current active players. The data also include the users who signed up, downloaded, and uninstalled the game at some point.
With the numbers alone, it’s no wonder why League of Legends is one of the most popular games of all time. Their numbers beat out Steam, the video game platform. Steam’s monthly active users is reported to be somewhere at about 120 million and 62.6 million players using the Steam platform daily [8].
On a personal note, I was one of the few lucky ones back then who was paid to test out games like League of Legends.
League of Legends Demographics
The following data have been gathered from a large scale poll dated 2020 [9], [10]:
- 87% of the entire League of Legends player count is predominantly male and 12% of the League of Legends player count is female.
- 75% of the player base are younger than the age of 25.
- 67% of women who play League of Legends enjoy the Jungler role or Fill role, while 80% of men prefer the Mid role.
- 98% of men have been flamed and cussed in game, and 79% of female players experience harassment at some point.
- In China, the ratio of men to women League of Legends players is slightly closer. 73% of their players are male and 27% are women. The largest age group that comprises 36% of the player base is the 21-35 age group.
- Korea has the highest number of people who play League of Legends. It’s estimated that more than 10 million people play League of Legends every day [11], [12].
- Out of their population, 3.8 million players are ranked players. This makes Korea as having the highest number of ranked players amongst other servers. In contrast, the total population of the Korea server (covering ranked and unranked players) is around 20 million players [13].
- Europe West follows in 2nd place with 1.5 million ranked players and Brazil with 1.3 million ranked players [11], [12].
How Many Downloads Does League of Legends Have?
Riot Games has not officially released an actual download count, so the data provided here are based on several factors, including number of League of Legends monthly active players, registered users, and so on.
- League of Legends: Wild Rift is one of the most downloaded MOBA games for mobile. In July 2022, the game generated 994,921 downloads [14].
- League of Legends: Wild Rift (Chinese Edition) generated 730,334 downloads for that time period [14].
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is the most downloaded game for that time period with more than 4.7 million downloads [14].
- Based on the current number for League of Legends players, as well as data from the number of registered users, the estimated download count for League of Legends is at least 180 million times [5], [6], [7].
League of Legends Esports Stats
League of Legends has one of the biggest esports events in the video game industry right now. The production value of these World Championships is legendary (see what I did there?).
So who are the biggest earners in League of Legends’ side of esports?
- South Korea dominates the rankings in terms of earning, having won more than $30 million from all esports events to date [15].
- China comes in second place with $601,972 and Taiwan with $266,399.
- Five of the highest earning players in League of Legends are from Korea. Lee “Faker” Sang Yeok is the highest paid player with $1.3 million to his name [15].
The prize pool for the League of Legends World Championships between 2012 up to 2021 are as follows [16]:
- 2012 – $1.97 million
- 2013 – $2.05 million
- 2014 – $2.13 million
- 2015 – $2.13 million
- 2016 – $5.97 million
- 2017 – $4.95 million
- 2018 – $6.45 million
- 2019 – $2.23 million
- 2020 – $2.34 million
- 2021 – $2.18 million
As you can see from the data above, 2018 was the year with the biggest prize pool. In total, the lifetime prize pool amounts to $89,644,012 spanning 2653 tournaments.
While this may not come close to what Fortnite and Dota 2 have for their prize pools, League of Legends does a good job at competing against these giants.
In 2021, more than 4 million people watched the World Championship. The average viewer count for the event was $1,298,728 and the total viewing time was 174,826,794 hours. The World Championship event, covering the preliminaries all the way to the Finals, was broadcasted on YouTube, Twitch, Douyu, Bilibili, and more [17].
How Popular is League of Legends?
With all the number crunching done above, we don’t need more proof that Riot Games’ League of Legends is popular. But we’ll go further by looking at Twitch streaming data for League of Legends as basis for its popularity.
- League of Legends is one of the most popular games on Twitch as of August 2022 in terms of number of streamers. To date, there are 226,485 streamers for League of Legends on Twitch. Fornite has the most number of streamers with 687,750 [18].
- League of Legends is ranked as the most popular game on Twitch based on average number of weekly viewers. As of May 2022, League of Legends has 216 thousand average concurrent weekly viewers [19].
- League of Legends is one of the most streamed games on Twitch in terms of hours. As of August 2022, League of Legends has about 2.2 million hours streamed on Twitch. Valorant, another Riot Games’ product, leads the ranking with 4.09 million hours streamed [20].
Wrap Up!
The popularity of League of Legends has nowhere to go but up. With their recent animated series, Arcane, becoming a big hit and garnering numerous awards [9], it wouldn’t be surprising to say that there will be more people who’ll give League of Legends a chance. It may or may not even become one of their favorite games, but they’ll just need to test the waters.
Is League of Legends dying? Far from it. The player count, both daily and monthly, are still within the six to seven figure range. Riot Games continues to pump out great content in terms of cosmetics, lore, and several adaptations.
Reference
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/935930/ftp-games-revenue/
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/806975/lol-revenue/
[3] https://win.gg/news/league-of-legends-generated-dollar-1-dot-75-billion-revenue-in-2020/
[4] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1269311/league-of-legends-wild-rift-player-spending-app/
[5] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/league-of-legends-hit-8-million-peak-concurrent-players-a-day
[6] https://activeplayer.io/league-of-legends/
[7] https://techacake.com/league-of-legends-player-count/
[8] https://backlinko.com/steam-users
[9] https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/f04k12/league_of_legends_survey_results/
[10] https://imgur.com/a/X6iR4WE
[11] https://win.gg/news/league-of-legends-is-by-far-most-played-game-at-korean-pc-bangs/
[12] https://www.novint.com/how-many-people-play-league-of-legends-in-korea/
[13] https://ph.op.gg/
[14] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1269466/most-downloaded-moba-apps-worldwide/
[15] https://www.esportsearnings.com/games/164-league-of-legends
[16] https://www.statista.com/statistics/749024/league-of-legends-championships-prize-pool/
[17] https://liquipedia.net/leagueoflegends/World_Championship/2021
[18] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1110391/twitch-game-streamer-number/
[19] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1110295/twitch-streamers-average-weekly-viewers/
[20] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1108427/leading-games-twitch-hours-streamed/
[21] https://www.esports.com/en/arcane-sweeps-the-annie-awards-and-wins-9-different-awards-335234
