After more than a decade, Riot Games has built up its popular MOBA title League of Legends as one of the most well-known video games in the world. With an exciting, ever-evolving meta, a dedicated player base, and a thriving competitive scene, the future of the game seems to be in good hands.
There has, however, been a rise in other different titles alongside League. Riot’s own first-person shooter VALORANT, for example, has quickly taken off as a top title with both casual players and in the esports scene alike. Some people have started to wonder if League can keep up its growth and whether its numbers have shown signs of regression or progression over the past year.
Many people have made jokes about how League is a “dead game,” but most know that isn’t the case. But do the current numbers reflect a worrying trend or is League fine and dandy for the future?
How many people are playing League in 2022?
As of August 2022, there are around 124 million people playing League of Legends with over 117 million people playing the game at a monthly rate, according to video game statistics site Activeplayer.
The growth of the game over the past year might not look too exciting, with a drop of around 2 million average monthly users from August 2021 to now. Yes, the player base has stagnated a bit over the course of the past year, but when compared to numbers from 2020 and 2019, there has been a massive jump.
Back in August 2019, League had an average of just under 76 million average monthly players with a peak of 3 million users in a day. The following year, the game had an impressive increase to 105 million average monthly players, and in 2021, that number blasted upward to 126 million average monthly players.
Overall, League has seen an increase of about 48 million users over the course of two years, which is a pretty steep boost in the game’s player base for such a short amount of time. So when someone says that League is dead, millions of players would say otherwise.
It also helps that League esports has massive viewership, with a ton of fans from around the world tuning into its various regional leagues. The 2021 World Championship, for example, brought in millions of viewers during October, with 174 million hours watched and an average of 1.2 million people per day, according to Esports Charts.
