From its humble roots in the Warcraft III modding community to its place at the top of competitive esports, League of Legends has seen pretty much every stage of success in gaming and esports. Although it has always been free, League has shown a lot of promise as one of the shining examples of longevity in esports—both in its original form and through its broad portfolio of other media.

Over the years, League of Legends has had massive success and a huge fanbase. The game often reaches over 130 million people monthly, maintaining its spot near the top of today’s most popular games. Riot Games expanded its property beyond the PC, creating multiple mobile games, console games, music groups, and even a Netflix series based on the game. Riot set records for its animation budget going on to win four awards at the 2022 Emmys for its Netflix series, Arcane. With all of this in mind, some people may still wonder: What exactly is League of Legends?

TLDR: What is this game?

In short, League of Legends is a 5v5 Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game (MOBA), where players (formerly referred to as “Summoners”) fight. The ultimate goal of the game is to clear through the enemy team’s protective turrets and destroy the enemy’s Nexus, but there are layers of complexity that make the game less straightforward than just running down a lane and knocking down turrets.

Players fight for priority in one of three lanes, looking to earn gold by killing minions—or their opponents—and destroying structures or epic monster camps (both called “objectives”). Teams that claim more objectives earn more gold, allowing them to buy items that empower their champion’s abilities and make fights easier. Winning more fights leads to pushing more lanes, and pushing lanes leads to destroying the enemy’s Nexus. The game is simple in concept but has a lot of depth once you look past the surface.

Before League of Legends

League of Legends was heavily inspired by a game called Defense of the Ancients, better known today as “DotA”, which originally required players to own a copy of Warcraft III, since it was a mod made within the RTS game’s map editor by a dev known only as “Eul”. After a lackluster sequel map was released, the map’s source code became available and modders around the world took their shot at perfecting the game.

A new version called DotA Allstars emerged, combining the best ideas from multiple maps. It was initially created by “Meian” and “Ragn0r”, later handed off (after its protections were removed by “MechaWarrior”) and handed off to a man we now know as Steve "Guinsoo" Feak. The game spiked in popularity, and the next goal became making the game as accessible as possible. It would need to be its own game, without other purchases required.

The Early Days of League of Legends

The developers built League of Legends using the WarCraft III engine; they presented it at a 2007 game development conference, and it received a less-than-stellar initial impression from many gaming companies.

The concept of an entirely free-to-play game with paid cosmetics was completely foreign. This was not a risk other companies were willing to take. Riot’s developers would need to start on their own. They would need to become much more than just a developer—they became what would one day be a publishing giant.

Nobody knew then that League of Legends would become a global phenomenon. The game launched with a slightly longer title, known during its earliest days as “League of Legends: Clash of Fates”. The game first came into the limelight with its release through the public beta, open in October 2009, just before its official release that same month.

League of Legends had made it through half a year of beta testing before becoming available to the public. On release at the end of October 2009, there were a total of 40 champions available for players to use—many with different kits than what we see today. At one point, Soraka could restore mana! Her abilities were also used to grant armor.

Rising to the Top

Through its free-to-play model, the game gained a lot of traction at home and abroad. The low barrier of entry gave League of Legends a leg up over its competition. Estimates placed the game's first-year revenue at nearly $1.3 million. The developers acknowledged that the elimination of a trial cost, as well as a lack of a subscription, solidified their fanbase by getting the product on as many computers as possible.

While the gameplay had a huge learning curve, the endless amount of possible lane matchups and depth of gameplay proved to be a strong selling point. In theory, the goal was simple—destroy the Nexus. In reality, it required so many evolving layers of strategy and mechanical skill.

With new champions added every year and frequent patches shifting the meta, no two seasons ever played the same. The dev team was active in creating changes to shake up the meta. People wanted to be the best, and those who couldn’t quite make it there could watch the best with regional tournaments and the World Championships. League of Legends was dominating the esports scene, but how could it go further?

League of Legends in Other Media

League of Legends has expanded far beyond being just a video game. Over the years, Riot Games has released a wide variety of media that focuses on the League of Legends cast. With its portfolio including everything from rock music to a smash-hit Netflix series, the company has effectively become a media powerhouse, constantly finding new ways to meet potential players outside of the Rift. Read more about Arcane and Riot Games Music here.

Riot also created games outside the main League experience, publishing titles like Wild Rift, Ruined King, Hextech Mayhem, Song of Nunu, Convergence, Mageseeker, and Bandle Tale under their Riot Forge brand. While the projects were not long-lived, most of the games received high praise from the people who purchased them.

What’s the Catch?

Despite—or maybe because of—its popularity, League of Legends has gone through several controversies. The community the game has built, while large, is generally known as being toxic. In-game chat filters have been implemented and improved over the years in a strong effort to curb toxic behaviors. In the recent Season 2 Developer Update they announced improvements targeting behaviors like AFK trolling and scripting.

Members of the larger League of Legends community have also started becoming more discontent with recent decisions on Riot’s part regarding Skin Releases (like the $250 Jinx gacha and battle pass skins) and the handling of the Hextech Chest Incident. Riot has stated they are working to help offer a better solution for the problems the community has been having.

Victory or Defeat?

League of Legends is one of the most popular esports to date, pulling in numbers that many other games can only aspire to hit on an annual basis. While it’s faced controversies—from community behavior to gacha systems—the game has undeniably shaped gaming culture.

Whether people know League of Legends from the game that started over a decade and a half ago, or the music the characters have taken part in over the past few years, one thing is clear: League of Legends is an integral part of how many people view, understand, and experience esports. The precedent set by the sheer quality and quantity of media produced by the company once started by a couple of friends in their apartment will leave its mark on the gaming community for decades to come.