League of Legends has long been one of the most successful titles in the Esports scene. In fact, League of Legends can claim to one of the games that has propelled Esports to the high standing of today. Esports has become one of the most in demand sports on the planet, to the point where all the major online bookmakers have added Esports betting odds to their markets. League of Legends betting odds were some of the first to be added to online sportsbooks but is the game still regarded as being one of the biggest in the Esports world?
The multiplayer online battle arena video game was first released in 2009. Developed and published by Riot Games, the idea was to use a custom map from Warcraft III as inspiration for a new, stand-alone game. League of Legends is available on Microsoft Windows and macOS and one of the many reasons it remains extremely popular is because it is free to play. You do not have to spend any money on the game to get started but there are customization options available for purchase within the game to enhance the playing experience.
If we look at the playing statistics for League of Legends in 2020 and the overall active user base was more than 80 million people, which is incredible. Over 30 million players entered the game every day, which is astonishing and if we bring the stats up to date for 2022, there are more than 180 million active League of Legends players. The release of Arcane on Netflix has accounted for the rise in people playing the game recently but how is this linked to Esports. Well, the average daily player of League of Legends wants to see the best players in action. Esports tournaments is where you will find the best players of any game, including League of Legends and millions of fans of the game tune in to watch the leading players compete. Not only does it give the average player an opportunity to see the best players, but it is also an opportunity to learn and become a better player themselves.
Professional League of Legends Esports events started in 2011 in Sweden. There was a $100,000 prize fund for the competition and Fnatic came out on top to claim the $50,000 winners prize and the title of the best League of Legends team in the world. Over 1.5 million people tuned in to watch live streaming of the event and because of the popularity of the tournament, Riot Games announced it would increase the prize fund to $5 million over the course of season two.
If we fast forward to the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, the winners took home over $500,000. Even the teams finishing 9th to 11th took away over $50,000, which is the more than the winners of the event in 2011. The 2021 League of Legends World Championship could not operate as planned due to the pandemic, but the tournament did take place with restrictions. Despite the restricted nature of the event, the winners of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship took away close to $500,000. Both the 2020 and 2021 tournaments did not have a live crowd due to the pandemic yet League of Legends remained hugely popular on live streaming. The fact some people were stuck at home helped to boost the viewer numbers.
If we take the NFL as a comparison, we can see just how big League of Legends remains, not only on the Esports scene but in the sports world. The 2019 Superbowl had 98.2 million viewers and it is regarded as being the biggest single sporting event in the United States. The 2018 League of Legends World Championship Finals had 99.6 million unique viewers around the world, which is an incredible figure. The numbers have continued to get better and in the 2021 League of Legends World Championship Finals new records were set for peak viewership. That does not sound like a game on the decline, in fact, it sounds like League of Legends is continuing to grow in popularity as an Esports game. There were a record 73.86 million peak concurrent viewers for the 2021 finals and this proves League of Legends is still a juggernaut in the Esports scene.
Many other video game titles have been released since League of Legends but they have yet to knock League of Legends off its lofty perch. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Fortnite, Call of Duty, Valorant, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Rocket League have all tried to dominate the Esports gaming scene but League of Legends continues to lead the way. This is especially true on PC, where League of Legends is the most popular game across the globe.
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