With the undeniable rise of one of Riot Games’ most recent games, VALORANT, and the recent controversial decisions by Riot Games, some members of the LoL community started to ask whether the game can keep its popularity in the future. Here is the question that the fans have been asking each other, is League of Legends dying?
There are many different aspects that keep a video game alive. However, the most important point to keeping a game at the highest level is of course managing its popularity among all the other games. You could say that League of Legends is dying from your own perspective but the numbers say the opposite. We will be looking deeply at the most recent stats of League of Legends tournaments and all the other new modes, such as League of Legends Clash.
Riot Games’ latest decisions have come under scrutiny by several members of the community. What was initially supposed to be the year that changed League of Legends forever, the 2025 season kicked off with a few blows. The free Hextech chests have been completely removed from the game and Riot has slowly introduced poorer features in the game such as lower-quality skins, battle passes with fewer rewards, and even gacha-like systems for special skins. Not to mention all the previous issues that have plagued LoL for years, such as toxicity and negative attitude.
To answer the question above, let’s have a deeper look at the ecosystem’s current situation by examining both the esports scene and also the gaming area where the game keeps its popularity at the highest level.
League of Legends was released in 2009 by Riot Games. At first, they had a handful of testers and some other players who were trying to get used to the game. After some time, the game became so popular that some of the esports players were known by many people in their own countries, including Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok for instance. Most of the international League of Legends tournaments hosted great communities which made the best players famous not only regionally but also internationally. These international tournaments also help different people from different cultures to unite. Besides, LoL betting is also an important factor in the game’s popularity.
According to ActivePlayer, League of Legends holds a huge community in its hands and it reached its peak with over 135 million players in January 2025, with a peak daily player base of around 36 million recorded in the month. This was likely due to the new season, which usually comes with new features and several key changes.
Throughout 2024, the player count was on average around 130 million, dropping down from the 140 million mark during the post-covid years.
If you look at the chart below, you will see there were many jumps between months and years but the player base has been more or less consistent throughout the year. Even when Riot Games loses some of its player base, an even bigger wave comes to join the game, resulting more or less in small losses of player base.
Image Credit: activeplayer.io
Considering the ongoing issues and outcry by some members of the community, it’s likely that we might see a decrease in the number of players in 2025. Unless Riot somehow manages to fix specific aspects of the game, it might not look like a great year for LoL.
When it comes to League of Legends esports, this is probably the best year it ever had in terms of presence and exposure. Thanks to the new format changes for international tournaments, as well as T1’s return to the top of the world, the League of Legends World Championship recorded its highest peak viewership ever, hitting over 6.8 million concurrent viewers, according to stat site Esports Charts. Average viewership also has greatly increased from 2024, breaking the 1.71 million barrier.
The answer to this question is very simple: by satisfying the players. Compared to previous years, however, it looks like Riot hasn’t been able to be consistent with their communication. Despite Riot Games employees being active and vocal on social media, the changes and decisions taken have not been well received.
Long story short, the answer to “Is League of Legends dying?” is; no, it is not dying. That being said, this might be the first time in years that several members have voiced their discontent and might be in a position to drop the game. It would not be right to say that League of Legends is dying, but things might not be all sunshine and roses.
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