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Do not turn this into a (insert game here) vs. LoL argument. It's about LoL and Riot's success, which is great for ESPORTS. - Jibba |
http://na.leagueoflegends.com/news/youve-grown-league-legends-massive-game
TL;DR
- 15 millions registered players
- ~1,4 million daily players
- 500.000+ people IN A GAME at the same time = usual "peak" (emphasized because confirmed later, not "in the client", but in an actual game)
- on average 10+ games start every second
- RIOT as a company has 5 times more employees than it had in october 2009
- big announcement incoming "soon"
So, first off, this confirms what most of people assumed without solid proofs : League of legends is HUGE, even for a "free game", as it's not a simple farmville/freecell we're talking about but an actual video game with vast knowledge to be acquired and a steady-ish learning curve.
This also valids several things : If 500k people is a non-exceptionnal peak (on week-ends I assume), the Dreamhack viewers don't seem that strange anymore, especially considering how many people watch games & competitions without playing that much themselves (real sports especially, but I think it's also true for Starcraft and other games, to an extent).
If somebody can bring up similar numbers for similar games or in comparison to others, it would be nice. For instance, Team Fortress 2 (biggest game on steam) peaked at 100k "active players when it went F2P, and stabilized again around a 65k "peak today". Which is pretty close to 1/10th of league of legends.
These numbers (and the ginormous growth of Riot in a few months) and the solid viewers numbers of a lot of streams probably justify it's addition in several big LAN events (lastly IEM and MLG). Just check http://clgaming.net/livestreams for an incomplete list of streams, usually anywhere from 15k to 40k viewers, up to MUCH higher numbers during tournaments or special events, and it's far from listing all the streams, it's mostly own3d.tv.
Feel free to discuss these things here, comparisons and point of views are welcome. BLIND HATRED isn't. Thanks for keeping the discussion here related and reasonable !
Addendum : [18:29] <@Cedstick> Jesus fuck that's a lot of openings http://www.riotgames.com/careers/job-openings-0
SIGH. As some people don't even seem to believe I play HoN : http://i.imgur.com/m8TmX.jpg
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It blows my mind that the game could become this successful based on what it is. It was a fun game, but I always felt it really lacked the depth of some of it's competitors. At the end of the day, much like with Zynga and the like, I guess accessibility is what matters in terms of mass market success.
Good for them, it's a great casual games to kick back with some friends.
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DOTA players are still gonna deny that LoL is legit and that it has more players than DOTA.
Hater's gonna hate I suppose.
What's incredible is how much it has grown lately, it didn't seem this big just like 4 months ago.
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On July 27 2011 01:26 howerpower wrote:
DOTA players are still gonna deny that LoL is legit and that it has more players than DOTA.
Hater's gonna hate I suppose.
What's incredible is how much it has grown lately, it didn't seem this big just like 4 months ago.
I don't think anyone with any sense would try to argue with public information, even with the massive success DotA had in China.
Most people don't really argue with League of Legend's popularity...
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Not really surprising, sure the numbers are really big and that is awesome for them and for the games. It's really fun to play a few games once in a while.
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I really liked the game but eventually got turned off by the sheer abusiveness of the player base. It was rarely even directed at me (used to be a DoTA player so I dont feed etc) but it finally drove me away.
These are interesting numbers though. I may have a peek back in it to see if they've done anything to clear up/suspend abusive accounts.
I had no idea it had gotten this large!
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I'm curious as to what's going to happen once DotA 2 is released...
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Why dont you also name some of the Cons. That a lot of bad players play this game, -obviously-, people who don't even speak english, people who flame, who rage, who swear etc etc etc.. Many bugs. The game is imbalanced. Everytime a major bug appears, they claim that they have fixed it but another one appears. I used to play LOL, i stopped because i was playing ranked games with people who were unmannered and unskilled. You are allowed to be a newbie but please, dont play ranked, go normal.
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It doesn't surprise me. It's the only competently designed, well executed free to play game that stands up against traditionally bought titles. It has set itself up excellent publicity, very solid community building and support compared to similar games and the gameplay itself is fantastic for a wide audience, though this is common to all the MOBA games.
One of the coolest things is that women seem to be almost as keen on this game as guys, I know almost as many girls who play it as guys, and they're often just as if not more competent. This isn't big news for gaming in general, but if LoL becomes a standard Esport, it could be a massive boon for degendering the community a bit.
I'm really looking forward to see how they run in the future because they're being a perfect model for how to get people to love you, build a reputation and make a shitload of money in the process.
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This has been discussed to death, but everyone knows who is REALLY the League of Legends community (and i play the game with my friends that are afraid of playing sc2). Although the numbers show its popularity and the game has brought much to the DOTA like games, the horrible balance concept riot develops for its game, the incredibly horrible and casual (i cannot stress this enough) community, Bugs and horrible coding overall, will spell the downfall for league of legends (IMO) when its competitors release the next DOTA like games. In the end of the day, i´ll just say im a bit skeptical about LOL's lifespan, i just don´t see it happening. Its league of legends today, tomorrow something else.
And numbers are veeery relative, especially for e-sports. When WOW was the fad-of-the-month and had, easily the biggest fan-base, WOW arenas never got off, really.
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On July 27 2011 01:31 Thereisnosaurus wrote:
It doesn't surprise me. It's the only competently designed, well executed free to play game that stands up against traditionally bought titles. It has set itself up excellent publicity, very solid community building and support compared to similar games and the gameplay itself is fantastic for a wide audience, though this is common to all the MOBA games.
One of the coolest things is that women seem to be almost as keen on this game as guys, I know almost as many girls who play it as guys, and they're often just as if not more competent. This isn't big news for gaming in general, but if LoL becomes a standard Esport, it could be a massive boon for degendering the community a bit.
I'm really looking forward to see how they run in the future because they're being a perfect model for how to get people to love you, build a reputation and make a shitload of money in the process.
I feel like that's the only positive I'm really seeing to League of Legends as an eSport at the moment. The massive viewer base it may draw in, and the balancing of gender dominance in the community.
As far as competitive play goes, from what I've seen it's been pretty stale and somewhat disappointing, the game just lacks real action, flare or moments that make you sit up and notice that something was difficult to execute. I feel the success of the game can be largely attributed to it's "easy to pick up" play but they sort of fumbled on that "hard to master" part in my opinion, also it's just not very visually interesting to me as a spectator. Unlike Starcraft 2 or DotA which is both fun to play and watch, I find League of Legends to merely be fun to play.
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I used to be a hater of League of Legends and all things DOTA related. That was almost completely because I had such a bad experience getting into DOTA back in the day, because the learning curve was so huge. I remember trying to play DOTA as a complete noob and trying to learn every detail about the game, but this was not made possible by all the BM I received for being a noob. It made that genre unattractive to me, because I was never given the chance to learn.
However, only a few months ago I finally started playing LOL. My friends had finally convinced me. League of Legends was far different from what I expected based on DOTA. I was actually placed into matches with people of my own skill level and learning the game was a breeze. I quickly learned the basics and was even ready to play arranged matches with my high level friends. Of course I was outmatched when playing with them and wouldn't do the best, but I still had a lot of fun because I was playing with people I knew.
In my opinion League of Legends is a great game and it still has a lot more to offer with new game styles and maps that Riot has promised. I know there is the constant argument that League is not a competitive game and that very easy to learn, and you might think this is true based on my above explanation. However, what people don't realize is that very much like Starcraft 2 ladder, the games scale based on your current level (1-30). And you can only truly play the "competitive" games, once you reach level 30. It is quite annoying to hear people say: "Well I made a LOL account and absolutely destroyed in my first game, EZ MODE." They fail to realize that they are playing with new people and if you have experience with games like DOTA of course you will do much better. People need to play the game in ranked, where it really counts to judge the competitiveness.
None the less I think LOL is an amazing game with great Characters that all seem to have their own personality, which I feel HON is lacking. I have fallen in love with a lot of the characters in LOL and some of their skins, which is not something I can say the same for HON.
I am glad to see that League of Legends is doing well and I hope that it can thrive along Starcraft 2 in e-sports.
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MOBA genre is huge + solid free to play game + outstanding RP/IP system
League of Legends is missing a lot of features like replays, etc.., but they got the basics right. I also think that the MOBA genre was made for free to play. The IP/RP system provides the game with a great feel of progression, unlike in Sc2 or DOTA, you feel like you're accomplishing something with every game. The steady flow of new champions ensures that you'll always have something to work towards. It's a great game that really got it right when designed the ladder system and introducing new players, not surprised with the amount of success.
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On July 27 2011 01:29 rawrx wrote:
I'm curious as to what's going to happen once DotA 2 is released...
Not gonna be as big if it isn't free and i'm sure it won't be. In some ways it can be a blessing though.. Lol probably gonna continue being the biggest.
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LoL is simply the best MOBA game period, and nothing I've seen of DotA 2 makes me doubt that.
A lot needs to be done before it has a long term future as an E-Sport like SC2(making more than just the players watch), but Riot has the time, ambition, and resources needed to achieve that goal.
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Thx for the info, i knew it was big as a lot of my friends play it, and even some co-workers of my friends, but i didint expect it was THAT big.
+ Show Spoiler +
Some people seem to never give up on hate
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On July 27 2011 01:41 Augury wrote:
MOBA genre is huge + solid free to play game + outstanding RP/IP system
League of Legends is missing a lot of features like replays, etc.., but they got the basics right. I also think that the MOBA genre was made for free to play. The IP/RP system provides the game with a great feel of progression, unlike in Sc2 or DOTA, you feel like you're accomplishing something with every game. The steady flow of new champions ensures that you'll always have something to work towards. It's a great game that really got it right when designed the ladder system and introducing new players, not surprised with the amount of success.
Yep, I completely agree. This is mostly what has kept my attention to league of legends, the sense of progression with IP and acquiring new characters. The fact that all characters are not available is something that League of Legends has been criticized for a lot, especially by HON players. However I feel that is one of the best features of this game in comparison to others. This system keeps you playing for those extra hours, because you have an objective to accomplish.
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LoL es #1, always best never die.
On July 27 2011 01:45 Kappa09 wrote:Show nested quote +On July 27 2011 01:41 Augury wrote:
MOBA genre is huge + solid free to play game + outstanding RP/IP system
League of Legends is missing a lot of features like replays, etc.., but they got the basics right. I also think that the MOBA genre was made for free to play. The IP/RP system provides the game with a great feel of progression, unlike in Sc2 or DOTA, you feel like you're accomplishing something with every game. The steady flow of new champions ensures that you'll always have something to work towards. It's a great game that really got it right when designed the ladder system and introducing new players, not surprised with the amount of success. Yep, I completely agree. This is mostly what has kept my attention to league of legends, the sense of progression with IP and acquiring new characters. The fact that all characters are not available is something that League of Legends has been criticized for a lot, especially by HON players. However I feel that is one of the best features of this game in comparison to others. This system keeps you playing for those extra hours, because you have an objective to accomplish.
The nice thing about what the game lacks if the developers are working towards solutions, however slowly. A spectator mode is on the way, and replays are already viable thanks to the keen folks over at LoL Replay (google it.)
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On July 27 2011 01:41 Augury wrote:
MOBA genre is huge + solid free to play game + outstanding RP/IP system
League of Legends is missing a lot of features like replays, etc.., but they got the basics right. I also think that the MOBA genre was made for free to play. The IP/RP system provides the game with a great feel of progression, unlike in Sc2 or DOTA, you feel like you're accomplishing something with every game. The steady flow of new champions ensures that you'll always have something to work towards. It's a great game that really got it right when designed the ladder system and introducing new players, not surprised with the amount of success.
I actually despise the IP/RP system and the business model in general, but once again it's made for mass market appeal and ease of access. This business model is one of the few things that could put me off Dota 2, here's to hoping there's an affordable option to just buy the whole roster there.
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On July 27 2011 01:47 Mordiford wrote:Show nested quote +On July 27 2011 01:41 Augury wrote:
MOBA genre is huge + solid free to play game + outstanding RP/IP system
League of Legends is missing a lot of features like replays, etc.., but they got the basics right. I also think that the MOBA genre was made for free to play. The IP/RP system provides the game with a great feel of progression, unlike in Sc2 or DOTA, you feel like you're accomplishing something with every game. The steady flow of new champions ensures that you'll always have something to work towards. It's a great game that really got it right when designed the ladder system and introducing new players, not surprised with the amount of success. I actually despise the IP/RP system and the business model in general, but once again it's made for mass market appeal and ease of access. This business model is one of the few things that could put me off Dota 2, here's to hoping there's an affordable option to just buy the whole roster there.
As I come from the complete opposite side of this argument, could you please explain why you despise the system? I am quite interested in understanding why some people are against it. Thanks.
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EPT
