Why Is League Of Legends So Popular?
Since its release in 2009, Riot Games' League of Legends (LoL) has remained a mainstay in the gaming and esports worlds. In a previous post, we covered the League of Legends game in-depth and what makes it such an irreplaceable presence in gaming years after its release. Among many factors, we highlighted the game's free-to-play model, making it accessible to millions of gamers worldwide.
Another important factor in LoL's timeless popularity is its hardware requirements. Unlike many popular AAA video game titles today, League of Legends doesn't require the strongest, fastest, or newest desktop PC to run. Without demanding extremely high-cost graphical cards and system memory, LoL remains a captivating, colorful, and exciting gaming experience for fans of the title and genre.
More than ten years after its release, developers at Riot Games are dedicated to sustaining League of Legends' longevity among gamers, fans, and esports professionals. One of the ways they do this is through constant updates and added content. The game has over 140 playable characters, each with its own abilities, voice lines, and cosmetic skins. Developers are also constantly updating and patching the game to ensure characters are balanced and maintain competitive integrity in esports and the built-in ranked system. Speaking of esports, some of the most significant esports events in the world are LoL tournaments or series finals, set in various cities worldwide.
So, what makes League of Legends so popular despite hundreds and thousands of newer games being released every year? In this post, we'll look at the much-loved genre the game belongs to, its thriving esports scene, and its striking presence in pop culture.
The MOBA genre
The term MOBA, or multiplayer online battle arena, refers to a genre of games combining strategy and action, where two teams compete against each other to destroy the opposing team's main structure. Despite League of Legends being one of the immediate names you may think of when considering MOBAs, the genre is filled with other popular titles like Dota 2, the aptly named mobile game Mobile Legends, Vainglory, and many more.
Released in 2009, League of Legends falls perfectly between the release of two games from MOBA competitor Dota. The first Dota, a community-created WarCraft III game, was released in 2003, until developers at Valve decided to zero in on the MOBA market by releasing a much-awaited sequel, Dota 2, a decade later in 2013. Considering the decade-long gap between the Dota games, it's understandable that LoL was able to garner a dedicated following of players in love with the MOBA genre.
The League of Legends esports scene
As mentioned in our introduction, one of the biggest contributing factors to LoL's popularity is its huge esports scene. The official LoL tournament circuit founded by Riot Games is called the League of Legends World Championship — often shortened to simply, Worlds. What started as a smaller tournament hosting eight teams from Europe, North America, and South Asia with a $100,000 prize pool has now become an international esports event offering millions of dollars in total prize pool.
Of course, aside from the professional esports players benefitting from sizable winnings and earnings, fans and viewers of LoL also heavily contribute to the scene. Viewership is crucial for esports tournaments and events to profit and earn valuable sponsorships. Viewers also participate in the scene by placing bets on teams or players they support. According to this LOL betting guide, watching and betting on LoL esports events has become an intense experience for fans of the game. Whether the LCS in North America, the LCK in South Korea, or the LEC in Europe and MEA, fans are treated to exciting LoL esports tournaments all year round. LoL's longevity is also considered attractive for bettors looking for a consistent and learnable esports scene to follow.
League of Legends in pop-culture
Finally, another key aspect of League of Legends' long-lasting popularity is its presence in pop culture. Aside from the excitement associated with annual and seasonal esports tournaments, LoL is also big on the music scene. For Worlds 2023, for example, developer Riot Games reached out to K-pop girl group New Jeans for the opening anthem, "Gods". This collaboration was a hit that reached both LoL and K-pop fans. New Jeans is a relatively new entry in the K-pop scene that quickly reached global fame since debuting in 2022. By having New Jeans perform the Worlds 23 anthem, Riot easily solidifies League of Legends as an ever-relevant presence in gaming and pop culture.
In 2023, Riot also introduced HeartSteel, a virtual boy group featuring Baekhyun from K-pop boy group EXO, ØZI, Tobi Lou, and Cal Scruby. HeartSteel is only one of many LoL-music collaborations, following a virtual K-pop group K/DA, a heavy metal band called Pentakill, and a hip-hop group, True Damage.
Ultimately, the popularity of League of Legends hinges on Riot's ability to expand its influence beyond computer or laptop screens. Whether through adrenaline-pumping live esports tournaments in stadiums or collaborations with real-life artists and musicians, it'll be interesting to see where developers take LoL in the future.
