Sunil GillNobody outside Riot Games knows how many people play League of Legends. Riot last gave a figure for the game on its own in 2019, when it said about 8 million people were playing at the daily peak, and its last audience number of any kind was 180 million monthly players across all its League titles in October 2021. Every "live player count" published since is a model, not a measurement.
This page sets out what Riot has actually said, what can be measured from the outside, and why the numbers on tracker sites should not be quoted as fact. Where a figure is an estimate, it says so.
League of Legends player count: what is known
- 100 million monthly players: Riot's statement in September 2016, the last monthly figure it published for League of Legends alone.
- About 8 million peak concurrent players every day: Riot, September 2019, for the game's tenth anniversary, measured as the average daily peak across all regions in August 2019.
- 180 million monthly players in October 2021 across League of Legends, Wild Rift, Teamfight Tactics and Legends of Runeterra: Riot's most recent audience figure.
- 6.75 million peak viewers for the Worlds 2025 final, the second-highest esports audience ever recorded, behind Worlds 2024 at 6.86 million (Esports Charts, excluding Chinese platforms).
- Revenue: not disclosed. Riot is owned by Tencent, which does not report it separately.
What Riot has said, year by year
| Date | Figure | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 32.5 million registered players, 11.5 million monthly | Riot infographic for the game's second year |
| October 2012 | 70 million registered, 32 million monthly, 12 million daily | Riot statement |
| January 2014 | 67 million monthly, 27 million daily, 7.5 million peak concurrent | Riot statement |
| September 2016 | 100 million monthly players | Riot statement to Polygon, the last monthly figure for the game alone |
| September 2019 | About 8 million peak concurrent players daily | Average daily peak across all regions in August 2019, per Riot |
| October 2021 | 180 million monthly players | All titles set in Runeterra combined, per Riot |
The 2011 to 2014 figures are Riot's own, as widely reported at the time, and are included for the shape of the curve. Growth from 11.5 million to 100 million monthly players took five years. After that Riot stopped reporting, and the 2021 figure folds in three newer games, so it cannot be compared with 2016.
The 8 million concurrent figure is the most useful recent one, because concurrent players can be compared with other games. Riot said at the time that it made League of Legends larger than the top ten games on Steam combined.
Why tracker sites disagree with each other
Search for the League of Legends player count and you will find sites giving a precise figure for this month, usually between 110 and 150 million, sometimes with a daily number and a live counter. None of them has access to Riot's data. The figures are built from Riot's old statements, Google Trends, Twitch viewership and each site's own assumptions, and they diverge from each other by tens of millions because the assumptions differ.
Two things can be said with some confidence. The game did not shrink dramatically after 2016, because its esports audience, which can be measured, kept setting records through 2024. And the 2021 figure of 180 million for all titles implies League of Legends itself was somewhere above the 100 million of 2016, since the three newer games were unlikely to supply 80 million between them. Beyond that, a number quoted to the nearest million is false precision.
What can be measured: esports viewership
The World Championship is tracked by Esports Charts, which counts concurrent viewers on Twitch, YouTube and other platforms outside China.
View as table
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 4.0M |
| 2022 | 5.1M |
| 2023 | 6.4M |
| 2024 | 6.86M |
| 2025 | 6.75M |
Source: Esports Charts
| World Championship | Peak viewers | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4.0 million | Final, EDG v DWG KIA |
| 2022 | 5.1 million | Final, DRX v T1 |
| 2023 | 6.4 million | Final, T1 v Weibo Gaming |
| 2024 | 6.86 million | Final, T1 v Bilibili Gaming; the esports record |
| 2025 | 6.75 million | Final, T1 v KT Rolster, game five |
Worlds 2025 was watched for about 133 million hours with an average of 1.5 million concurrent viewers, both below 2024 (190 million hours, 1.7 million average), which Esports Charts attributed to a shorter play-in stage and match times that suited Asian audiences better than Western ones. The peak held up because the final went to five games. These figures exclude China, where Riot has separately claimed far larger audiences; it reported 73 million peak viewers for Worlds 2021 with Chinese platforms included.
Revenue
Riot Games has been majority-owned by Tencent since 2011 and wholly owned since 2015. Tencent reports game revenue in aggregate and does not break out League of Legends. The revenue figures that circulate, typically $1.5 to 2 billion a year, are analyst estimates, most of them several years old. The game is free to play and earns from cosmetic items, battle passes and, since 2024, a range of premium skin tiers that drew public complaints about pricing. None of it is disclosed.
What the numbers mean for app and game developers
- A company can stop reporting user numbers and still be measured. Esports viewership, app store ranks and ad reach estimates will fill the gap, and not always in your favour.
- Riot's last two figures count an ecosystem, not a game. Wild Rift and Teamfight Tactics on mobile let it report growth while the PC game matured. If you have several apps, the combined number is the one you will eventually lead with.
- Fifteen years in, League of Legends sets attention records through its esports final rather than through player growth. For a live game, the audience that watches is a separate asset from the audience that plays.
Figures for the gaming audience as a whole are in the number of gamers report, and for the mobile side in the most popular apps report.
How these figures are counted
Riot's player figures are quoted from its own announcements, with the date and the scope of each; Riot has published no League of Legends-only audience number since 2019. Esports viewership is from Esports Charts, which measures peak concurrent viewers across streaming platforms excluding China. Revenue is not disclosed by Riot or Tencent, and no revenue figure on this page is presented as fact.
FAQs
How many people play League of Legends?
Riot Games does not say. Its last figures were about 8 million peak concurrent players a day in 2019 and 180 million monthly players across all League of Legends titles in October 2021. Current monthly estimates from tracker sites range from about 110 to 150 million and are not based on Riot data.
Is League of Legends still popular in 2026?
By the measures that can be checked, yes. The Worlds 2025 final drew 6.75 million peak viewers outside China, the second-largest esports audience ever, a few percent below the 2024 record.
How much money does League of Legends make?
Riot and its owner Tencent do not disclose it. Figures of $1.5 to 2 billion a year are analyst estimates, not reported revenue.
How many people watch League of Legends Worlds?
The 2025 final peaked at 6.75 million concurrent viewers on platforms outside China, with 133 million hours watched across the tournament, according to Esports Charts. The 2024 final set the esports record at 6.86 million.
When did Riot last release player numbers?
October 2021, when it said 180 million people had played its League of Legends titles that month. The last figure for the main game alone was 8 million peak concurrent players in September 2019.
Sources
- Riot Games' 100 million monthly players (September 2016), as reported by Fortune
- Riot Games' 8 million peak concurrent players (September 2019), as reported by GamesBeat
- Riot Games' 180 million monthly players across its titles (October 2021), as reported by eXputer
- Esports Charts Worlds 2025 and 2024 viewership, as reported by Hotspawn, October 2025
Sources were checked on October 6, 2026.