In recent years, we have become quite familiar with the grand titles attributed to League of Legends, such as “the biggest game in the world”, “the most successful game”… This comes from the enormous number of loyal gamers of this game across many countries worldwide. In fact, on online gaming forums, League of Legends often ranks among the games with the highest active player counts.
However, this success of League of Legends has raised significant questions, as the number of players and viewers for this game in Riot Games’ very own backyard – North America, has decreased considerably. Specifically, the viewership numbers for the LCS tournament peaked in 2019. As of now, the peak viewing hours and audience size for the LCS in 2022 are around 35-40% compared to three years ago.
According to the comments from gamers in the North American League of Legends community, many players from the early seasons have stopped following the game. “Players from the beginning like me are all over 30 years old now. Most League of Legends players my age no longer follow it because we don’t have the time to study or watch tournaments.
We have jobs, kids, and a ton of other responsibilities to take care of instead of playing 10 games a day or watching 6 LCS matches. Therefore, the number of viewers for the LCS and interest in League of Legends content creators in North America is declining sharply” – A veteran gamer with the username BottlesforCaps shared on the Reddit forum.
Indeed, for the veteran gamers of League of Legends, staying committed to this game at the present time is quite challenging. As mentioned earlier, they have matured and taken on more societal responsibilities, making it difficult to just play League of Legends continuously for hours on end.
Moreover, League of Legends itself has also become significantly less interesting compared to before, causing not only players but also content creators to abandon it. Perhaps aside from Tyler1, most of the early League of Legends content creators in North America have left the game. For instance, figures like Pokimane and Lilypichu have shifted towards more “feminine” content such as chatting and art rather than playing League of Legends for 8 hours a day.
Clearly, in a highly competitive market like North America, Riot’s lack of groundbreaking directions and innovations for League of Legends in recent years has caused the game to gradually lose its standing. This has happened before when the wave of survival shooter games emerged, so it’s no surprise that League of Legends continues to falter right in its own home turf in North America.