We all know that League of Legends is one of the most popular online games in the world, but we never really knew how big League of Legends really is. It’s time to find out the total League of Legends player count. League of Legends player count in 2021 is no joke. Its player count has grown year by year and is now one of the most played multiplayer games in the world and the most played Esport in the world.
League of Legends, a game developed by Riot Games in 2009 has gained heavy popularity in recent years. It started in 2009 with a few hundred thousand players, quickly gained traction, and reached 11 million players by 2011, which then again takes a huge leap to 65 million players in 2014 and a further bigger leap of 100 million players in 2017. After that, the League of Legends player base had a slight drop in its player count to 75 million in 2018 but has made a comeback in 2020 with a range of 100-120 million players.
Even though a lot of people think that League of Legends is a dying game, the numbers are telling us a completely different story. League of Legends player count in 2021 has reached a total number of 115 million active monthly users! With these crazy stats, we just can’t see League dying in the near future! If you’d like to learn more about how League gained its popularity, then continue reading this article!
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How did League of Legends Rise in Popularity?
In the beginning, LoL was a very different game. Today we have our fair match-making system, understandable gameplay, and as many skins as we want. And the only problematic thing that we can agree on is the client, which sometimes takes on its own.
But, some League of Legends players may remember a time where there was actual chaos in the game. Laggy servers and buggy gameplay – no one was immune to the numerous issues that arose every day. So, how did a game like League of Legends rose to such high numbers of active players on a daily basis?
First of all, we have to give credit to Riot Games for addressing a large percent of the issues. Champions were fixed, items were removed and new ones added, new map features were introduced. And in the end, we ended up with the League mode we have now. Regular patch updates, bug fixes, and in-depth beta testing are just parts of it.
League of Legends started in North America. In the beginning, the NA server was the only existing one. And the European and the other servers came almost a year later. But despite everything, the interest in the game kept growing since day one. Why is that?
Well, we can say that it’s because League of Legends is such a great game. And we wouldn’t be wrong because, at the time, it was a brand new sensation in the world of competitive video games. A 5v5 PvP arena that required knowledge, skill, and strategy.
Those were the fundamental things that launched LoL in the world of Esports. And Esports made LoL more popular than it could’ve ever been imagined!
League of Legends Esports
It’s no secret that Esports massively influenced the growth of League of Legends’ player count. It helped spread LoL around the world and made it more popular than ever. So how does the professional Esports League of Legends scene work?
Well, the LoL professional scene is divided into multiple leagues, each representing the region and servers they’re in. For example, the North American server and region have the NA LCS league throughout the year. Only the best teams from the United States, Canada, and the rest of NA are playing in the LCS. And the same goes for the European LEC, the South Korean LCK, the Chinese LPL, and the rest.
Now, all these individual leagues work towards the same goal – to launch their best team on an international scale. Mid-Season Invitational, or MSI, is the first international tournament that is happening each year for League of Legends. It’s hosted in different states and cities every time, and teams from all leagues participate in it. MSI is a very serious competition, organized by Riot Games themselves, and has been around since 2015.
However, the most important event for the League of Legends Esports world is the World Championship. Worlds is the final clash between the best teams at the end of the year. The LoL World Championship is the grandest Esports competition, and it has broken viewership numbers many times now. For example, the finals of Worlds 2028 had a record-breaking 99.6 million unique viewers around the world. And just for a comparison, the American Superbowl in 2019 had only 98.2 million viewers.
But, if there is one reason why the LoL Esports scene is getting so many viewers and the game so many more players, it’s the teams and players!
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The Best League of Legends Esports Teams and Players
When we’re talking about pro League of Legends players, we really mean Legends. The situation is like in any other sport – the best players inspire the rest of us to try the game, improve, and become the best.
One person that deserves the most recognition for inspiring LoL players is Faker. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is a true icon within the League of Legends community. His debut match back in season 3 in the LCK league showed us his extraordinary talent for the game. Over the next couple of years, Faker would go on and win most of the home and international tournaments. He developed into the absolute best League of Legends player of all times.
But, Faker isn’t the only influential figure in the community. Pros like Bjergsen, Doublelift, Meteos, Diamondprox, xPeke, and many more have inspired a lot of people to join or stay with the game as well. And today’s stars like Caps, ShowMaker, Perkz, Deft, and SofM, are only continuing that tradition.
On the other hand, teams like Team SoloMid, T1, G2 Esports, Cloud 9, Fnatic, and others have left a true legacy behind them. Fans around the globe cheer for their teams and regard them as a vital reason why they’re still watching and playing the game. So, you can clearly see how the League of Legends Esports scene has influenced the growth of the game’s player base throughout the year.
Did Streamers Influence LoL’s Playerbase?
Definitely yes! Thanks to streaming, League has become the most-watched Esports title. During an important event, like the World Championship, third-party platforms like Twitch and YouTube gather to 500 000 live viewers on Riot Game’s official channels. And during the regular days, League’s viewership on Twitch stays on the number one spot – 150 000 – 200 000 average viewers live every second! No other video game has come even close.
Now, the big reason why League has so much attention on Twitch is the actual streamers themselves. Characters like Tyler1, Imaqtpie, Gross Gore, Doublelift, and Midbeast, gather tremendous amounts of audience people every day. They have a massive fanbase and followers that contribute to the League of Legends player count. They perform and teach other players how to be better at the game, resulting in a steady growth-over-time effect for League’s popularity too.
Nearly all professional League of Legends players have tried streaming too. Faker, Caps, and Perkz are among the most famous ones. They don’t have the widest of schedules when it comes to streaming, but they still make efforts to steam during their free time.
Streaming is a fantastic tool for marketing and publishing content, which is why it also works wonderfully for LoL. It’s easily accessible, and anyone can watch/stream their favorite games for free. League of Legends has been part of the streaming business since day one. People enjoy watching others managing to defeat their own opponents. We can learn much from other’s people mistakes, and League players are willing to put in the time to advance their skills in the game.
So, as much as the international tournaments have influenced League’s player numbers, the streamers have nearly that much too!
League of Legends player count in 2011 – 11.5 MILLION
This is the year Riot Games first announced an official statement with the number of players they had. It showed us in a cute little League of Legends player count graph
What we understand from that graph is that League of Legends in 2011 had:
- 32.5 Million registrations
- 11.5 Million monthly players
- 4.2 Million daily players
- 1.3 Million players playing at the same time.
But League of Legends wasn’t the only thing that had grown during the period, Riot Games the Developer of League of Legends had also grown five times their size to 300 total employees.
They had also included cool nifty stats such as how many minions were killed, how many champions were killed, how much gold was earned etc. as you can see in the infographic below.
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League of Legends player count in 2012- 32 MILLION
Moving into the next year Riot Games released another statement about League of Legends player count. They had again given a nifty infographic to help understand the state of the game in 2012.
What we can take away from the League of Legends graph is that League of Legends had
- 70 Million registrations
- 32 Million monthly players
- 12 Million daily players
- 3 Million concurrent players.
They had also given other information such as League of Legends has been played for more than 1 Billion play hours every month, the main age group from 16-35 and more information as you can see below.
League of Legends player count in 2014 – 65 MILLION
Fast-forwarding two years into the future, Riot Games released another official statement giving details about the state of League of Legends. This time they had not come with any infographics but rather straight up information.
From the statement released by Riot Games, we understand that League of Legends now had
- 65 Million monthly players
- 27 Million daily players
- 8 Million peak concurrent players
Although Riot didn’t release as much information as before it was still apparent League of Legends was still growing. It had taken a lot longer than previously, but Riot had managed to double their monthly and daily players bringing the total monthly players to 67 million.
League of Legends player count in 2017- 100 MILLION
Riot did not release any statement when they reached this mark, but according to analytical data and certain League of Legends graphs, we understand that the League of Legends player count had reached about 100 Million monthly players in 2017.
If League of Legends was a country, it would be ranked at the 15th Position as the population per country out of the 200+ countries in the world. That is right, there are only 15 countries in 2020 that have a population of over 100 million.
League of Legends player count in 2018 – 75 MILLION
As to how all games have, League of Legends also had its drop in its player count. But not to worry as League of Legends has gained back its position in 2020 because of the number of Events they held and the amount of marketing that had been done. By now, we had amazing cinematics and also music by many popular creators such as Linkin Park.
League of Legends Player Count 2021 (NOW)
League of Legends player count has reached a total of 115 Million monthly players in 2021 according to recent data and has become the King of Games. With constant releases of new Events, Tournaments, and Champions, League of Legends has become one of the most played games in the world. League of Legends literally has at least one game started every second. Can you imagine?
Are you still wondering if League of Legends is big or not?
League of Legends has had a total of $75 MILLION as price pool money in all of their Tournaments held all over the world. To be exact, they have had $5,580,255.87 as Prize Money for Online Tournaments so far and $69,363,810.93 as Offline/LAN Tournaments so far. Having a $75 Million Esports investment so far really shows how big League of Legends is and if that is not enough to convince you, let us compare League of Legends with other games.
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League of Legends Competitors
League of Legends vs Dota 2
League of Legends and Dota 2 are the world’s biggest MOBA games. However, the difference in the player count between these two games is massive. While Dota 2 has around 11 active monthly users, League of Legends has 115 million active monthly users, which makes League around 10 times bigger than Dota 2. Also, League of Legends has around 50 million daily active players in 2021, while Dota 2 only has 1 million daily players.
League of Legends vs Minecraft
Minecraft is the world’s most popular video game on many different gaming platforms, such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming. In 2021, Minecraft’s player base has risen to a whopping 125 million active monthly players, which is “only” 10 million more than the League of Legends player base. These stats really put a good perspective on how big League of Legends really is.
League of Legends vs CS:GO
CSGO is one of the biggest FPS games in the world and still has only 26 Million monthly players. League of Legends almost has 100 Million more than that!
Now you know how popular League of Legends is and I hope this article can help you convince that friend who keeps saying League of Legends is a small indie game made by a small indie company.
Are you surprised by these numbers? If you are, then you’ll be even more surprised when you check out these most expensive skins in League of Legends!
Final Thoughts
Each year, the number of League of Legends players numbers grows more and more. This steady rise has been here since the very beginning of the game. We’re very fortunate to see our favorite game having such a great success, despite the fact that more than 10 years have passed since we first entered the Summoner’s Rift. The truth is, no video game title has ever stayed on the top of the popularity charts like League of Legends.
Riot Games deserve much credit for listening to their general audience when it comes to the actual game itself and the professional scene. People who play League of Legends generally want to be connected to it, even when they aren’t playing the game. And all the books, cinematics, apps, streams, and talk shows, have done exactly that – bring the world of LoL closer to us all!
That said, we’re excited to see what the future hold for us, League of Legends players. Every year, Riot Games manages to introduce new things and keep us engaged. And we’re hoping that that will remain the same for a very long time. May the numbers of millions and millions of players rise even more!
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