History of League of Legends Timeline

An Ubisoft analyst estimated in 2014 that 4% of players were paying customers—significantly lower than the industry standard—and suggested that revenue optimization was likely not a priority because of the game's large player base.

In 2014, Riot standardized its patch cadence to once approximately every two or three weeks, establishing a predictable rhythm of balance changes and content updates.

Ultra Rapid Fire (URF) mode was available for two weeks as a 2014 April Fools Day prank, offering drastically reduced cooldowns and mana costs that made it wildly popular with players.

Before 2014, players existed in-universe as political leaders, or "Summoners", commanding champions on the Fields of Justice. In September 2014, Riot Games rebooted the game's fictional setting, removing summoners from the lore to avoid "creative stagnation".

A 2016 analysis by SuperData estimated the game's monthly revenues at $150 million per month, underscoring the enormous financial success of the free-to-play model.

To promote positive behavior, Riot reworked the "Honor system" in 2017, allowing players to award teammates virtual medals after games for one of three positive attributes.

Since May 2023, the game uses Riot's custom always-online anti-cheat software, Vanguard, on Microsoft Windows devices. Originally developed for Valorant (2020), Vanguard requires access to the device's kernel, which some users saw as unnecessarily intrusive.

Image source: Riot Vanguard

Riot Games added an additional skin tier to League of Legends in 2024, describing them as a luxury good. Some commentators identified this as a gacha game mechanic, used by Riot since 2023 in Teamfight Tactics. In early 2025, Riot announced a new skin in the tier long requested by players.

In November 2024, the studio said they would streamline player rewards in an upcoming patch, describing the game's various progression tracks and currencies as "needlessly complex".

League of Legends Classic, a mode restoring the visuals and gameplay of the game's early life, was announced in June 2026, with the full release set for late July.

Riot Games's first venture into music was in 2014 with the virtual heavy metal band Pentakill, promoting a skin line of the same name.

Image source: Pentakill

In 2016, the music team had four full-time composers and a team of producers creating audio for the game and its promotional materials.

Pentakill's second album, Grasp of the Undying, reached number one on the iTunes metal charts in 2017.

Riot announced a collaboration with Marvel Comics in 2018. The first comic was League of Legends: Ashe—Warmother, which debuted in 2018, followed by League of Legends: Lux that same year.

The group's debut single, "Pop/Stars", which premiered at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship, garnered over 400 million views on YouTube and sparked widespread interest from people unfamiliar with the game.

In 2019, Riot created a virtual hip hop group called True Damage, featuring the champions Akali, Yasuo, Qiyana, Senna, and Ekko. The vocalists performed "Giants" live at the opening ceremony of the 2019 World Championship alongside holographic versions of their characters.

In August 2020, Riot Games released "The Baddest", the pre-release single for All Out, the five-track EP from K/DA which followed in November that year.

Image source: K/DA

After a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Arcane premiered in November 2021 on Netflix internationally and through Tencent Video in China. After its success, Riot hired former executives from Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount Television Studios to expand its entertainment division, with CEO Nicolo Laurent pledging to create an "entertainment company for the 21st century".

In 2023, Riot formed Heartsteel, a virtual boy band comprising the champions Aphelios, Ezreal, Kayn, K'Sante, Sett, and Yone.

Image source: Tobi Lou

GKIDS produced home media releases of Arcane's first season in 2024, including a collector's edition DVD, a 4K UHD steelbook, and Blu-ray variants.

Image source: Arcane (TV series)

Arcane's second season premiered in November 2024 to similar acclaim, winning seven Annie Awards in all nominated categories. Collector's edition, 4K UHD, and 4K Blu-ray variants came out in 2025.

Image source: Arcane (TV series)

Online viewership and in-person attendance for the game's esports events outperformed those of the National Basketball Association, the World Series, and the Stanley Cup in 2016.

Image source: League of Legends in esports

The game was nominated for Best Esports Game at The Game Awards in 2017, 2018, and 2025, then won the award in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

In 2017, the franchised regional league system comprised 109 teams and 545 players, cementing the structure of the professional scene.

At the 39th Sports Emmy Awards in 2018, League of Legends won Outstanding Live Graphic Design for the 2017 world championship; as part of the proceedings, Riot used augmented reality technology to have a computer-generated dragon fly across the stage.

Image source: 39th Daytime Emmy Awards

Also at The Game Awards, Riot won Best Esports Event for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 League World Championships.

Image source: The Game Awards

The 2019 event registered over 100 million unique viewers, peaking at a concurrent viewership of 44 million during the finals. For the 2019 and 2020 finals, Riot reported 44 and 45 peak million concurrent viewers respectively.

In 2020, his team's slot in the North American league was sold to the Evil Geniuses organization for $33 million, reflecting the rising value of franchised LCS slots.

Image source: Evil Geniuses

In China, the rights to stream international events such as the World Championships were sold to Bilibili in Fall 2020 for a three-year deal reportedly worth US$113 million, while exclusive rights for domestic leagues are owned by Huya Live.

Image source: Bilibili

As of April 2021, Riot Games operates 12 regional leagues internationally, four of which—China, Europe, Korea, and North America—have franchised systems.

For the 10th anniversary of League of Legends in 2019, Riot Games announced several games at various stages of production that were directly related to the League of Legends intellectual property.

Image source: Riot Games

Teamfight Tactics is an auto battler released in June 2019 and made a permanent game mode the next month, becoming one of the most popular additions to the League client.

Legends of Runeterra, a free-to-play digital collectible card game, launched in April 2020 for Microsoft Windows; the game features characters from League of Legends.

Image source: Legends of Runeterra

In December 2020, Greg Street, vice-president of IP and Entertainment at Riot Games, announced that a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the game is in development.

Image source: Untitled Runeterra MMO

A single-player, turn-based role-playing game, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, was released in 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows.

Image source: Ruined King

Developed by Tequila Works, Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story—a third-person adventure game revolving around champion Nunu's search for his mother with the help of the yeti Willump—was released on Windows and the Nintendo Switch on November 1, 2023. It had been announced for a planned 2022 release.

Image source: Song of Nunu