What's the Most Popular MOBA - League of Legends Player Count

Updated · Mar 06, 2023

Mid, bot, lane, jungle, champion… If you’re a regular LoL player, you didn’t think I was having a stroke when you read this string of words. In fact, you probably hear these on a daily basis.

But how many people like you are out there?

Are multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA, games like League of Legends still popular?

Keep reading to find out everything about League of Legends—from its player count to the time people spend watching pro gameplay streams.

Game Info

Developer: Riot Games

Year of release: 2009

Platforms: Windows, Mac

Genre: MOBA (Multiplayer online battle arena)

Fascinating Facts

  • LoL has over 150 million registered users.
  • Around 125 million of them are active monthly players.
  • Males account for 82% of the League of Legends player base.
  • The average number of concurrent players exceeds 700,000.
  • The audience watched over 138 million hours of LoL on Twitch in August 2021.
  • The game made around $1.75 billion in 2020.
  • The prize pool of the LoL 2020 World Championship was $2.34 million.

League of Legends Info

Over ten years after its release, this is still one of the most popular games on the planet.

Hundreds of millions of people play it every day. On top of that, millions watch online streams showcasing pro gameplay.

After reading these stats, you’ll understand why the League of Legends player count is so high.

1. League was developed by Riot Games in 2009.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

League of Legends’s creator is the Riot Games' development team.

LoL is not the only nor the first of its kind. It’s just among the first big successful projects after DotA (short for Defense of the Ancients). This is a mod for the Warcraft III expansion called The Frozen Throne.

2. It is free to play.

(Source: Business Insider)

LoL is what’s known as a freemium game. But while the game itself is free, some of its cosmetics are not.

Fortunately, the League of Legends player count isn’t affected by this. Sure, you can only buy certain champions with real money, but you can also play without spending a dime.

3. League is on Epic Games, not on Steam.

(Source: Epic Games)

Initially, LoL was available on the Steam platform. Riot Games removed it from there quickly, though.

As of November 2021, League of Legends is on Epic Games. That said, the game is still available on its website as a separate download.

The company didn’t state the reasons for these decisions.

Despite Steam's massive market share, the game’s performance or popularity weren't affected at all.

4. LoL only has Windows and Mac versions.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

As we mentioned earlier, League of Legends is a MOBA. Multiplayer online battle arenas aren’t meant to be played anywhere but on a computer, at least not competitively.

Riot Games’ biggest hit isn’t an exception, either. It’s only available on Windows and Mac.

League of Legends Players in 2022

If you want to know how the game is holding after all these years, you’re at the right place. Here, we dive deeper into the LoL player count, demographics, and other related info.

5. LoL has over 150 million registered users.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

This is not the actual League player count, though. For all we know, some registered players might have uninstalled the game shortly after downloading it.

That said, the actual count isn’t that much lower.

6. There are around 125 million monthly LoL players.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

Note that this is the count in December 2021. This number fluctuates every month.

Still, it’s safe to assume it’ll remain in this range for a little while longer. After all, it hasn’t moved a lot in the past six months.

Compared to the same time last year, though, this is a significant rise. In December 2020, there were over 120 million active players.

7. There are around 3.5 million daily League of Legends players.

(Source: LeagueFeed)

Just short of three and a half million gamers played LoL daily in December 2021. The number is calculated by pooling data from the previous 30 days.

Also, note that this is the average, not the peak number of players.

8. On average, there are over 700,000 concurrent League of Legends players.

(Source: TechACake)

Somewhere around 715,000 in 2021, to be precise. This number shows how many people play the game simultaneously at any given moment.

Is there better proof that the game is still extremely popular?

9. 82% of the League player base is male.

(Source: TechACake)

The player base for most video games is male. It seems like League of Legends is no exception here.

Only 18% of all players are female. Is it because of the violence in the game? We don’t know for sure. Still, this fact shouldn’t be all that surprising.

10. The peak daily League of Legends player count is now above 11 million.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

Since June 2021, each month has had a day with more than 11 million simultaneous players.

For comparison, the monthly peak in 2019 was just over five million. Even in 2020, the 10 million mark was reached just a few times toward the end.

That clearly shows the game’s growth over the past few years.

League of Legends Growth Statistics

Although some people think LoL’s best days have passed, numbers show its fan base is actually increasing. Well, with the exception of 2018.

11. League of Legends had 75 million players in 2018.

(Source: LeagueFeed)

In 2018, the game lost a huge chunk of its players.

In 2017, the game had over 100 million monthly players. That number fell to 75 million only a year later.

That’s the biggest League player count loss to strike the game ever.

Taking the previous facts into consideration, though, we can say it’s fully recovered now.

12. League of Legends had a revenue of $1.75 billion in 2020.

(Source: WIN.gg)

It is no match for Chinese free-to-play games, though. Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite were the two biggest games in the world at this time. They made $2.45 and $2.32 billion, respectively.

Next came Roblox and Free Fire, each of which made over $2 billion. The fifth one was Pokemon GO, with its $1.92 billion.

Riot Games came sixth with LoL and its $1.75 billion revenue. It still beat some other huge names, like Candy Crush Saga and AFK Arena.

13. The LoL 2020 World Championship prize pool was $2.34 million.

(Source: Statista) 

Only 2016, 2017, and 2018 had bigger prizes, but by a wide margin. They were more than twice as big, starting from $5 million.

The prize pool for the 2018 World Championship amounted to a staggering $6.45 million! It went a bit downhill afterward.

That said, with League of Legends’ popularity bouncing back, we might even see an increase in the following years.

14. The audience watched over 138 million hours of League on Twitch in August 2021.

(Source: TechACake)

And that’s just the most recent stat. This number was even higher in May the same year, when 174 million hours were spent on the streaming platform.

Even when the League player count falls, Twitch users are still watching it.

Wrap Up

With these League of Legends player count stats, we showed you that the game’s popularity isn’t in the past yet.

Sure, the game has had some ups and downs, but after all, it was made almost thirteen years ago.

And it still remains extremely popular, addictive, and the most important thing, free to play. The paid cosmetics bring enough money to the developers to keep enhancing the gaming experience.

If you haven’t played it yet, give it a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised by how much it has to offer. Now go smash the opposing Nexus!

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Nick Galov
Nick Galov

Unaware that life beyond the internet exists, Nick is poking servers and control panels, playing with WordPress add-ons, and helping people get the hosting that suits them.