

Are there still many players of League of Legends, even 13 years after it was released? Keep reading to find out!
Even though League of Legends is one of the world’s most famous games, there have been many games to compete with it in the past years. Riot games also developed their own first-person shooting game that instantly became viral, and it was questionable if the company was going to maintain the player base for LoL.
So, did they manage to keep it? Yes! There seems to have been a stagnation in the LoL player count a few years back. But thanks to the pandemic and lots of free time for us, League was ‘back in the game.’ Now, in 2022 and exactly 13 years after we were introduced to this strangely addictive game, the player count has reached 180 million monthly active players! For comparison, in 2012, there were ‘only’ 35 million. Then the number got higher in 2014 – 65 million, and in 2017 there were 100 million monthly active people. Then, along came Coronavirus, and its lockdown brought even more players online: in 2020, up to 115 million, and as mentioned above, this year, we got 180 million.
The conclusion is: League of Legends is definitely not dying!
League of Legends Player Count on Twitch
Currently, this most-played MOBA game is ranked #2 on Twitch as the most-watched hourly. This means that people are more interested in watching LoL matches than Valorant, CS: GO, Minecraft, Dota 2, and other much-played and streamed games. But this year’s World Championship in League of Legends is less-viewed than in 2021: there were 4, 018, 728 people watching Worlds in 2021, which is almost double that of this year – 2, 194, 104. However, 2022 Worlds has just begun, and it ends on November 5th, so there might be even more viewers in the following period. It’s important to note that streamers have a huge influence on the LoL playerbase. People follow streamers mainly because of their fun content but also to learn from streamers’ mistakes during live matches or even to learn some new tips and tricks for their own gameplay.
League of Legends World Championship 2022
Worlds 2022 is the final tournament out of 12 during the year. It includes 24 ‘best of the best’ teams from all around the world and is offline, but it’s streaming on Twitch and YouTube. The patch it’s being played on is Patch 12.18. The prize pool of the tournament features $2,225,000. This competition is, understandably, a huge magnet for LoL fans and players around the globe, so it’s not surprising that day one of this tournament attracted about a million viewers. That number is provided by Esports Charts, but they don’t take into consideration viewers from China. It’s hard to obtain this information because it’s a huge region. This is where LoL has the largest fanbase. So, we can confidently say that this number is much higher!
Why Do People Still Play League of Legends?
Since Riot Games launched the game on October 27th 2009, the LoL player count kept rising to this day, with just a minor stagnation. How do they keep their players? Well, Riot games obviously found the key to success. Besides listening to the fans on social media and constantly communicating with them, this company does much more to keep the game running a decade later. They make just enough changes to the game to make it perfectly addictive, and they release updates almost every two weeks. A slight change in mechanics, new items or even removing old ones, introducing new champions every now and then – all of this makes players come back for more.
League of Legends VS Dota 2
Just like in prior years, LoL still wins in player count compared to Dota 2. Statistics say that, in 2022, Dota 2 has a million daily players, while League hits a massive 50 million players daily. Both of these games are legendary MOBAs, and that’s a fact, but what’s the difference between them? Which one is better (and why isn’t that Dota 2)? Also, since the games are MOBA, their communities are… well, let’s say, competitive – and will strongly defend their game. So, some Reddit and Quora users stated that it depends on what you prefer and your style. Dota 2’s pace is slower than that of LoL; the difference in graphics is obvious, and if you like darker games, LoL isn’t for you. Then, there’s the completely different cast of champions/heroes. League of Legends gameplay is apparently much easier to learn and is more beginner-friendly, while Dota 2 is a bit more complex and harder to master. However, if you aren’t a pro in either of these games – go play what your friends are playing! Having fun is, after all, the most important. GL&HF!