League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game developed and published by Riot Games, released in 2009. Two teams of five champions compete to destroy the opposing team's base across a symmetrical map — and through relentless updates, competitive infrastructure, and global reach, it became the most-played PC game in the world.
League of Legends was developed by Riot Games and released in October 2009, drawing direct inspiration from the Warcraft III custom map Defense of the Ancients. Two teams of five players each select from a roster of champions — each with a unique set of abilities — and compete to destroy the opposing team's Nexus at the heart of their base, fighting across a three-lane map filled with jungle camps, turrets, and objectives.
Each match begins with all champions at level one, building power through kills, assists, and gold income over 30–50 minutes. The interplay between champion abilities, itemisation, team composition, and macro decision-making — rotations, objective control, vision — created a game of staggering strategic depth. No two matches play out the same way. The champion roster, which has grown to over 160 characters, ensures the combination space remains effectively infinite.
At its peak, League of Legends was played by over 150 million registered accounts worldwide, with tens of millions active daily. Riot built one of the most elaborate esports ecosystems in existence: regional leagues across every major market, an annual World Championship that fills football stadiums and draws tens of millions of online viewers, and a prize pool and production standard that legitimised competitive gaming as mainstream entertainment.
League of Legends is ranked #46 on Rolling Stone's 2025 list of the 50 Greatest Video Games of All Time. Though newer competitors have challenged its dominance, it remains one of the most-played and most-watched games ever made, and its influence on game design, live-service monetisation, and esports organisation is felt across the entire industry.