League of Legends
Riot decides that allowing sports betting sponsorships in top-tier League of Legends and Valorant esports is a good ideaJun 26, 2025 - PC GamerRiot Games believes that "building the future of esports means investing in a sustainable ecosystem, not just for today, but for the long run," Riot's president of publishing and esports John Needham said today, and that's why the studio has decided to open the door to "betting sponsorship opportunities" for Tier 1 League of Legends and Valorant teams in the US and EMEA... Read more.League of Legends TCG Riftbound doesn't forget LoR, but Riot gets our concernsJun 4, 2025 - PCGamesNIf there's one thing I like more than the smell of pristine cards, fresh from their packs, it's getting to grips with brand-spanking-new trading card games. So I was delighted when Riot Games invited me to its Los Angeles campus to test out its upcoming League of Legends TCG, Riftbound. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? League of Legends Mythic shop June 2025 - what's on sale now? One of League of Legends' best interactions has vanished, but Riot's on the case The new League of Legends Uzi skin is cheaper than Faker's, but not by muchMay 27, 2025 - PCGamesNLeague of Legends' Hall of Legends, perhaps the most divisive addition in the game's history. Debuting in 2024, T1 icon Lee 'Faker' Sang-hyeok was the first player to be inducted into Riot's official hall of fame, but his associated Ahri skin cost $450 for its top-tier edition, and $300 for its mid-tier bundle, prompting perhaps the most explosive backlash I've seen in the game's history. With the announcement that RNG's Jian 'Uzi' Zi-hao was joining the elite roster a week ago, I'm sure many of us were hoping and praying that the price of his skins would be a little easier to swallow and, while the bundle does cost less, there's not that big of a difference. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The best League of Legends skins Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? Riot reveals 2025's League of Legends hall of famer, and it's well deserved Riot is testing League of Legends behavior detection for "blatantly trolling"May 17, 2025 - PCGamesNRiot Games is assuring players that it is "very confident in our accuracy rate" for detecting negative behavior in League of Legends, amid growing concerns that more bad actors are popping up in the MOBA. LoL lead gameplay designer Matt 'Phroxzon' Leung-Harrison also says Riot is currently testing even more ways to find other toxic behaviors in-game right now, which includes anyone who's "blatantly trolling" you. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: League of Legends WASD movement controls may soon be a reality League of Legends hits pause on new skins to rework disappointing Black Rose set League of Legends Mythic shop May 2025 - what's on sale now? League of Legends WASD movement controls may soon be a realityMay 14, 2025 - PCGamesNWhile it's a core pillar of so many PC games, MOBAs like League of Legends have never got on board with WASD movement controls. The strategic traversal of the Summoner's Rift has always lent itself to the classic point-and-click method, and using your mouse to move in the heat of complex and intense skirmishes is a skill all of its own. However, a new datamine appears to show that Riot is ready to add the option to play LoL with WASD controls in what would be a pretty major change to the status quo. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: League of Legends hits pause on new skins to rework disappointing Black Rose set League of Legends Mythic shop May 2025 - what's on sale now? Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? League of Legends hits pause on new skins to rework disappointing Black Rose setMay 13, 2025 - PCGamesNIt's update day in League of Legends, and while patch 25.10 is now live and the patch notes are out in the wild, it's actually news about 25.11 that's caught my attention. With 25.11 heading to the PBE, Riot has revealed that for the first time in a long while, there will be no new skins on the test server to uncover, and thus no new skins when the update drops later this month. The reason? Riot's put most of its energy into reworking its underwhelming and controversial Masque of the Black Rose skin series. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: League of Legends WASD movement controls may soon be a reality League of Legends Mythic shop May 2025 - what's on sale now? Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? Riot honors first-ever League of Legends World Champion 'Shushei' with free skinMay 6, 2025 - PCGamesNRiot Games is celebrating the life of the late League of Legends pro Maciej 'Shushei' Ratuszniak with an in-game title and skin. Shushei was a Fnatic player who was crowned MVP at the MOBA's first-ever high-stakes pro tournament. He died late last month. One of the best players in LoL's history, the Polish midlaner was known for using both AP Alistar and Gragas. Riot Games is now honoring his memory by offering up the latter's Fnatic skin to those who play three games as the champion. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? League of Legends' new changes are weird, but still good, Fnatic says League of Legends Mythic shop May 2025 - what's on sale now? League of Legends world champion Shushei dies at 36: 'One of the first greats of our game'May 1, 2025 - PC GamerLeague of Legends World Champion Maciej 'Shushei' Ratuszniak has died at the age of 36. The Polish national had been suffering from cancer for several years... Read more.The first-ever League of Legends World Champion 'Shushei' has diedApr 30, 2025 - PCGamesNMaciej 'Shushei' Ratuszniak, one of the winners of the first-ever League of Legends World Championship, has died. Known for popularizing AP Alistar and Gragas, the Polish midlaner was crowned MVP at the MOBA's first high-stakes pro tournament, and was easily one of the best players in LoL's history. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: LoL patch 25.09 brings Spirit Blossom makeover and new-look Atakhan to the Rift League of Legends Mythic shop April 2025 - what's on sale now? Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? LoL patch 25.09 brings Spirit Blossom makeover and new-look Atakhan to the RiftApr 29, 2025 - PCGamesNIt's almost time for Season 2 of League of Legends' 2025 slate, with LoL patch 25.09 ready to deliver the goods. Spirit Blossom vibes are returning, with the Rift getting a beautiful makeover and a new themed battle pass arriving. But in the gameplay department, things are getting a real shakeup, especially now that the reworked version of Atakhan is ready to be unleashed. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The first-ever League of Legends World Champion 'Shushei' has died League of Legends Mythic shop April 2025 - what's on sale now? Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? League of Legends' new Ivern skin under fire for being another "recolor"Apr 16, 2025 - PCGamesN2025 hasn't started off well for League of Legends. While on paper the rotating thematic seasons look and sound amazing, Riot has struggled to get its new system off of the ground. Between issues with battle pass rewards, the divisive gacha-esque Sanctum and its Exalted cosmetics, and, of course, the infamous Hextech Chest controversy, the MOBA is in a bit of an odd place. The second round of Noxus-themed battle pass skins proved particularly contentious, too, with Alistar's black and red look getting pulled entirely due to poor quality. Coming into Season 2, Riot promised that it would drop higher-tier skins in its battle pass, but Ivern's new Spirit Blossom look appears to just be a pink and blue chroma. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? League of Legends Mythic shop April 2025 - what's on sale now? League of Legends is getting a brand new 5v5 mode, removes iconic gray screens No, League of Legends is not launching a cryptocurrency right now, Riot confirmsMar 20, 2025 - PCGamesNLeague of Legends is a lot of things. At its foundation, it's an immensely popular MOBA. It's also, thanks to a plethora of multimedia spin-offs, a TV show in the form of Arcane; a life sim, thanks to Bandle Tale; and a platform game in Song of Nunu. Another arena that LoL briefly looked to have ventured into earlier today was branded cryptocurrency. But Riot now confirms to PCGamesN that this was actually the result of a hacked social media account. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: New League of Legends roguelike card mini-game released, and it's not Runeterra Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? League of Legends Mythic shop March 2025 - what's on sale now? New League of Legends roguelike card mini-game released, and it's not RuneterraMar 19, 2025 - PCGamesNLeague of Legends has managed to stay relevant for more than 15 years now thanks, in part, to creator Riot Games' constant work to spin off characters and concepts from the MOBA into new game genres and other media. These have included comics, the animated Arcane TV series, and, of course, games like Ruined King, Teamfight Tactics, Bandle Tale, Song of Nunu, and Legends of Runeterra. And now, in a surprise announcement, League of Legends' client will include a non-Runeterra card battling mini-game in the vein of Inscryption or Balatro called The Demon's Hand. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? League of Legends Mythic shop March 2025 - what's on sale now? LoL tier list patch 25.S1.5 - best League of Legends champions Riot walks back unpopular League of Legends changes: Hextech Chests are coming back, and the Blue Essence cost for new champions will be cut in halfFeb 26, 2025 - PC GamerRiot Games says recent changes to League of Legends' reward system "didn't hit the mark for everyone," and so it's bringing Hextech Chests back and reducing the Blue Essence cost for new champions by half... Read more.League of Legends pulls major Hextech Chest u-turn after community outrageFeb 26, 2025 - PCGamesNIt's safe to say that League of Legends has had a rough start to the year. While the community for Riot's MOBA is often forthcoming with concerns and complaints, players' dissatisfaction levels are nearing new highs. The reasons? Well, there are a fair few, but the main one is LoL's gradual move towards more expensive or gacha-style cosmetics while removing or changing popular progression and reward systems - namely, Hextech Chests. These were booted out of LoL at the start of 2025, but with community sentiment souring, Riot has done a u-turn. Hextech Chests are returning next week as part of the Act 2 update, and to further make peace with players, the unlock costs for new champions will be halved. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: League of Legends Mythic shop February 2025 - what's on sale now? Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? Despite new wave of third-party bans, League of Legends will still allow them You could be playing this new League of Legends card game by the end of the yearFeb 24, 2025 - PCGamesNA League of Legends card game to rival Magic The Gathering? Oooh yes, that sounds like a winner. While they can be expensive hobbies, a great TCG can lure in huge crowds. Sure, Riot Games already has its digital LoL card game, Legends of Runeterra, but there's something about gathering around a table in-person, watching decks compete in front of your own eyes, and holding a physical card between your fingers that a videogame can't replicate. So when I saw Riot reveal its new TCG, known at the minute as Project K, I was instantly interested. Right up until the moment I saw that it was exclusive to the Chinese market. Darn. Well, I come bearing some excellent news, because Riot says it's found a way to bring Project K to English-speaking regions soon after its launch in China, as well as other languages and territories in the future. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This stunning new Razer gaming mouse is perfect for League of Legends players New League of Legends update makes dramatic changes to stop lane swaps Dumpling Darlings Seraphine is finally coming to LoL, but it's different You could be playing this new League of Legends card game by the end of the yearFeb 24, 2025 - PCGamesNA League of Legends card game to rival Magic The Gathering? Oooh yes, that sounds like a winner. While they can be expensive hobbies, a great TCG can lure in huge crowds. Sure, Riot Games already has its digital LoL card game, Legends of Runeterra, but there's something about gathering around a table in-person, watching decks compete in front of your own eyes, and holding a physical card between your fingers that a videogame can't replicate. So when I saw Riot reveal its new TCG, known at the minute as Project K, I was instantly interested. Right up until the moment I saw that it was exclusive to the Chinese market. Darn. Well, I come bearing some excellent news, because Riot says it's found a way to bring Project K to English-speaking regions soon after its launch in China, as well as other languages and territories in the future. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This stunning new Razer gaming mouse is perfect for League of Legends players New League of Legends update makes dramatic changes to stop lane swaps Dumpling Darlings Seraphine is finally coming to LoL, but it's different This stunning new Razer gaming mouse is perfect for League of Legends playersFeb 24, 2025 - PCGamesNRazer is teaming up with the greatest League of Legends player of all time, Faker, for this brand-new Viper V3 Pro mouse. The five-time LoL world champion won his first four titles with a Razer Deathadder as his go-to clicker, but recently won his fifth title with a Viper shell, and now says he has designed this model as "a gift to my most loyal fans." For this collaboration, Razer chose its best gaming mouse for esports play and worked with Faker to create a one-of-a-kind design. You can read a complete breakdown of this mouse in my Viper V3 Pro review. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: You could be playing this new League of Legends card game by the end of the year New League of Legends update makes dramatic changes to stop lane swaps Dumpling Darlings Seraphine is finally coming to LoL, but it's different New League of Legends update makes dramatic changes to stop lane swapsFeb 22, 2025 - PCGamesNA new League of Legends update has just hit the PBE, and it features some rather severe changes aimed at putting a stop to lane swaps. The strategy has long been a point of contention in the MOBA, allowing teams to grab an early lead by moving their champions into other lanes to take advantage of the extra numbers. Now, Riot Games is taking a firm stance, rolling out a patch that lead gameplay designer Matt 'Phroxzon' Leung-Harrison calls "heavy handed by necessity," admitting that it will lead to some "collateral damage" to other tactics in the interim as the developer works on longer-term solutions. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This stunning new Razer gaming mouse is perfect for League of Legends players Dumpling Darlings Seraphine is finally coming to LoL, but it's different Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? Dumpling Darlings Seraphine is finally coming to LoL, but it's differentFeb 20, 2025 - PCGamesNI'm a Seraphine player, yes, I admit it. The Starry-Eyed Songstress remains one of the most controversial champions in League of Legends, attracting a decent number of players despite what feel like constant nerfs and adjustments. Whether you love her or hate her, however, there's no denying that Darling Dumplings Seraphine is an absolutely adorable skin, but while Amumu and Syndra are currently living out their gyoza fantasy on the Rift, Sera's still waiting for her Lunar New Year-inspired glow up. The plus is that the skin has made it back onto the PBE, but something has changed with its recall animation. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? LoL tier list patch 25.S1.3 - best League of Legends champions The best MOBAs on PC 2025 League of Legends Worlds 2019 Breaks the All-Time Peak Concurrent Viewer Count Record on TwitchNov 10, 2019 - GitHypThis year's League of Legends World Championship tournament in Paris ended early Sunday morning for Twitch's primary viewer base in the States.
But despite a 4:00 AM West Coast start time and quick 3-0 sweep by FunPlus Phoenix over G2 Esports, that didn't stop LoL's biggest event of the year from breaking records.
Just last month, Fortnite's “game-breaking” Black Hole event set the record for most concurrent viewers on Twitch with a peak of 1.6 million viewers. Riot Games' MOBA easily surpassed that number with 1.7 million viewers tuning into Twitch to watch the Grand Finals of Worlds 2019.
Earlier this year, Fortnite's most popular streamer, Ninja, left the platform allowing League of Legends to take back its position as the most watched game on Twitch in 2019 based on average viewers per hour.
Now, LoL also holds the record for 2019's most watched stream and the most watched event ever on Twitch. Certainly, a great year for Riot Games, whose game struggled last year after the rise of Fortnite and is now making an amazing comeback.
League of Legends' biggest competition in the MOBA genre, Dota 2, also had a record-breaking finale earlier this year at The International 2019 with 1.1 million viewers. Valve's tournament set its own record with a $34 million prize pool.
Despite cutting back on their esports budget and coming nowhere close to topping the biggest prize pool in esports history with only $2 million on the line, Riot's 10-year-old MOBA impressively continues to stay ahead of the competition at the top.
Riot also just announced that next year's World Championship event will take place in Shanghai, China. With the recent Blitzchung controversy causing Blizzard so many problems, it'll be interesting to see how the Chinese-owned company, Riot, handles the situation next year while promoting their own new arsenal of games that looks to take aim at Blizzard's portfolio.League of Legends Worlds 2019 Breaks the All-Time Peak Concurrent Viewer Count Record on TwitchNov 10, 2019 - GitHypThis year's League of Legends World Championship tournament in Paris ended early Sunday morning for Twitch's primary viewer base in the States.
But despite a 4:00 AM West Coast start time and quick 3-0 sweep by FunPlus Phoenix over G2 Esports, that didn't stop LoL's biggest event of the year from breaking records.
Just last month, Fortnite's “game-breaking” Black Hole event set the record for most concurrent viewers on Twitch with a peak of 1.6 million viewers. Riot Games' MOBA easily surpassed that number with 1.7 million viewers tuning into Twitch to watch the Grand Finals of Worlds 2019.
Earlier this year, Fortnite's most popular streamer, Ninja, left the platform allowing League of Legends to take back its position as the most watched game on Twitch in 2019 based on average viewers per hour.
Now, LoL also holds the record for 2019's most watched stream and the most watched event ever on Twitch. Certainly, a great year for Riot Games, whose game struggled last year after the rise of Fortnite and is now making an amazing comeback.
League of Legends' biggest competition in the MOBA genre, Dota 2, also had a record-breaking finale earlier this year at The International 2019 with 1.1 million viewers. Valve's tournament set its own record with a $34 million prize pool.
Despite cutting back on their esports budget and coming nowhere close to topping the biggest prize pool in esports history with only $2 million on the line, Riot's 10-year-old MOBA impressively continues to stay ahead of the competition at the top.
Riot also just announced that next year's World Championship event will take place in Shanghai, China. With the recent Blitzchung controversy causing Blizzard so many problems, it'll be interesting to see how the Chinese-owned company, Riot, handles the situation next year while promoting their own new arsenal of games that looks to take aim at Blizzard's portfolio.League of Legends' Worlds 2018 was the Most Watched Esports Event in the Game's HistoryNov 7, 2018 - GitHypUp until this past weekend, 2018 hasn’t been the best year for Riot Games and League of Legends. For the first time in years, LoL’s popularity has been on the decline with average viewer counts lower than ever due to the recent explosion in viewership for new battle royale games on Twitch.
But even with the rise and fall of PUBG, and Fortnite becoming the most watched game ever on Twitch, League of Legends' biggest event of the year, Worlds 2018, just managed to set a new all-time peak itself -- proving that the MOBA genre and LoL are both still fan favorites among esports viewers.
Last year, we reported that LoL’s main event at Worlds 2017 set a new record for the game with its viewer count peaking at just over 1 million concurrent viewers for the first time ever on Twitch.
Now, one year later, League’s Worlds 2018 event has once again topped itself, adding another 50k viewers (+5%) when compared to last year and setting a new peak of 1.14 million concurrent viewers on Twitch over the weekend.
When analyzing League of Legends' 6% decline back in October 2016, it seemed as if the world’s most popular esports game could be in trouble… but since then, LoL has seen its viewer base recover over the past two years with back-to-back increases in viewership for the game's world championship live events.
And while the recent increase in viewers is certainly great news for Riot Games and their biggest live event of the year, overall, LoL’s viewer counts on Twitch have been significantly lower this year with an average of 120k viewers per hour compared to last year’s 203k viewers per hour.
Last weekend’s event was also just shy of topping the second most watched esports event ever, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s #2 all-time peak of 1.15 million viewers on Twitch, and far from Fortnite’s record-breaking 1.5 million viewers back in July on Twitch.
It's worth noting that despite Epic's best efforts to grow the game as an esport, Fortnite’s peak viewer counts have also been on the decline recently. But neither Fortnite or LoL seem to be going away any time in the near future.
Even after a controversial year for the game and the developer, League of Legends' continued growth in viewership for Worlds has proven that Riot’s MOBA has what it takes to withstand other gaming trends and could potentially be back at the top of the esports community very soon.League of Legends Breaks 1 Million Concurrent Viewers for the First Time on TwitchNov 4, 2017 - GitHypLeague of Legends looked like it might have peaked in 2015 after viewership on for the World Championship finals dropped by 5% last year on Twitch.
But this year’s exciting finale featuring the return of Samsung Galaxy taking down the SK Telecom 1 dynasty helped LoL set a new all-time high record with over 1 million concurrent viewers on Twitch – a record just shy of Twitch’s all-time record of 1.1 million viewers held by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
With the majority of League’s player base being from China, Riot Games brought their biggest event to Beijing for the first time ever this year. After hosting Worlds in the developers' home town of Los Angeles last year, the move seemed like it would cause the American viewer counts to drop even further on Twitch this year by placing the final games in the twilight hours of Friday night and early Saturday morning.
[caption id="attachment_301682" align="aligncenter" width="786"]
League of Legends Peak Viewer Count on Twitch via GitHyp[/caption]
The awkward timing, however, didn’t stop fans from staying up all night to watch the biggest upset in LoL esports history. 1,087,754 viewers witnessed the newly reformed South Korean team, Samsung Galaxy, dethrone the back-to-back defending South Korean champs, SKT, in a shocking 3-0 blowout.
Riot is surely happy with the numbers being up by 150k viewers (10%) after the decrease last year. Especially after September marked the first month in years that LoL wasn’t the most watched game on Twitch with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds taking the top spot.
But PUBG isn't LoL's only competition. Back in August, Dota 2’s The International finals saw a 44% increase from the prior year and new peak of 845k viewers. With $24 million in prize money compared to LoL’s $4.6 million, Valve’s Dota 2 has been gaining more interest each year as an esport. Considering Dota 2’s much higher rate of growth, it might only be another year or two until we see the LoL dynasty fall as the defending esports champion just like SKT.
Earlier this year, Fortnite's most popular streamer, Ninja, left the platform allowing League of Legends to take back its position as the most watched game on Twitch in 2019 based on average viewers per hour.
Now, LoL also holds the record for 2019's most watched stream and the most watched event ever on Twitch. Certainly, a great year for Riot Games, whose game struggled last year after the rise of Fortnite and is now making an amazing comeback.
League of Legends' biggest competition in the MOBA genre, Dota 2, also had a record-breaking finale earlier this year at The International 2019 with 1.1 million viewers. Valve's tournament set its own record with a $34 million prize pool.
Despite cutting back on their esports budget and coming nowhere close to topping the biggest prize pool in esports history with only $2 million on the line, Riot's 10-year-old MOBA impressively continues to stay ahead of the competition at the top.
Riot also just announced that next year's World Championship event will take place in Shanghai, China. With the recent Blitzchung controversy causing Blizzard so many problems, it'll be interesting to see how the Chinese-owned company, Riot, handles the situation next year while promoting their own new arsenal of games that looks to take aim at Blizzard's portfolio.League of Legends Worlds 2019 Breaks the All-Time Peak Concurrent Viewer Count Record on TwitchNov 10, 2019 - GitHypThis year's League of Legends World Championship tournament in Paris ended early Sunday morning for Twitch's primary viewer base in the States.
But despite a 4:00 AM West Coast start time and quick 3-0 sweep by FunPlus Phoenix over G2 Esports, that didn't stop LoL's biggest event of the year from breaking records.
Just last month, Fortnite's “game-breaking” Black Hole event set the record for most concurrent viewers on Twitch with a peak of 1.6 million viewers. Riot Games' MOBA easily surpassed that number with 1.7 million viewers tuning into Twitch to watch the Grand Finals of Worlds 2019.
Earlier this year, Fortnite's most popular streamer, Ninja, left the platform allowing League of Legends to take back its position as the most watched game on Twitch in 2019 based on average viewers per hour.
Now, LoL also holds the record for 2019's most watched stream and the most watched event ever on Twitch. Certainly, a great year for Riot Games, whose game struggled last year after the rise of Fortnite and is now making an amazing comeback.
League of Legends' biggest competition in the MOBA genre, Dota 2, also had a record-breaking finale earlier this year at The International 2019 with 1.1 million viewers. Valve's tournament set its own record with a $34 million prize pool.
Despite cutting back on their esports budget and coming nowhere close to topping the biggest prize pool in esports history with only $2 million on the line, Riot's 10-year-old MOBA impressively continues to stay ahead of the competition at the top.
Riot also just announced that next year's World Championship event will take place in Shanghai, China. With the recent Blitzchung controversy causing Blizzard so many problems, it'll be interesting to see how the Chinese-owned company, Riot, handles the situation next year while promoting their own new arsenal of games that looks to take aim at Blizzard's portfolio.League of Legends' Worlds 2018 was the Most Watched Esports Event in the Game's HistoryNov 7, 2018 - GitHypUp until this past weekend, 2018 hasn’t been the best year for Riot Games and League of Legends. For the first time in years, LoL’s popularity has been on the decline with average viewer counts lower than ever due to the recent explosion in viewership for new battle royale games on Twitch.
But even with the rise and fall of PUBG, and Fortnite becoming the most watched game ever on Twitch, League of Legends' biggest event of the year, Worlds 2018, just managed to set a new all-time peak itself -- proving that the MOBA genre and LoL are both still fan favorites among esports viewers.
Last year, we reported that LoL’s main event at Worlds 2017 set a new record for the game with its viewer count peaking at just over 1 million concurrent viewers for the first time ever on Twitch.
Now, one year later, League’s Worlds 2018 event has once again topped itself, adding another 50k viewers (+5%) when compared to last year and setting a new peak of 1.14 million concurrent viewers on Twitch over the weekend.
When analyzing League of Legends' 6% decline back in October 2016, it seemed as if the world’s most popular esports game could be in trouble… but since then, LoL has seen its viewer base recover over the past two years with back-to-back increases in viewership for the game's world championship live events.
And while the recent increase in viewers is certainly great news for Riot Games and their biggest live event of the year, overall, LoL’s viewer counts on Twitch have been significantly lower this year with an average of 120k viewers per hour compared to last year’s 203k viewers per hour.
Last weekend’s event was also just shy of topping the second most watched esports event ever, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s #2 all-time peak of 1.15 million viewers on Twitch, and far from Fortnite’s record-breaking 1.5 million viewers back in July on Twitch.
It's worth noting that despite Epic's best efforts to grow the game as an esport, Fortnite’s peak viewer counts have also been on the decline recently. But neither Fortnite or LoL seem to be going away any time in the near future.
Even after a controversial year for the game and the developer, League of Legends' continued growth in viewership for Worlds has proven that Riot’s MOBA has what it takes to withstand other gaming trends and could potentially be back at the top of the esports community very soon.League of Legends Breaks 1 Million Concurrent Viewers for the First Time on TwitchNov 4, 2017 - GitHypLeague of Legends looked like it might have peaked in 2015 after viewership on for the World Championship finals dropped by 5% last year on Twitch.
But this year’s exciting finale featuring the return of Samsung Galaxy taking down the SK Telecom 1 dynasty helped LoL set a new all-time high record with over 1 million concurrent viewers on Twitch – a record just shy of Twitch’s all-time record of 1.1 million viewers held by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
With the majority of League’s player base being from China, Riot Games brought their biggest event to Beijing for the first time ever this year. After hosting Worlds in the developers' home town of Los Angeles last year, the move seemed like it would cause the American viewer counts to drop even further on Twitch this year by placing the final games in the twilight hours of Friday night and early Saturday morning.
[caption id="attachment_301682" align="aligncenter" width="786"] League of Legends Peak Viewer Count on Twitch via GitHyp[/caption]
The awkward timing, however, didn’t stop fans from staying up all night to watch the biggest upset in LoL esports history. 1,087,754 viewers witnessed the newly reformed South Korean team, Samsung Galaxy, dethrone the back-to-back defending South Korean champs, SKT, in a shocking 3-0 blowout.
Riot is surely happy with the numbers being up by 150k viewers (10%) after the decrease last year. Especially after September marked the first month in years that LoL wasn’t the most watched game on Twitch with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds taking the top spot.
But PUBG isn't LoL's only competition. Back in August, Dota 2’s The International finals saw a 44% increase from the prior year and new peak of 845k viewers. With $24 million in prize money compared to LoL’s $4.6 million, Valve’s Dota 2 has been gaining more interest each year as an esport. Considering Dota 2’s much higher rate of growth, it might only be another year or two until we see the LoL dynasty fall as the defending esports champion just like SKT.
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