History of League of Legends in Timeline

League of Legends is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by Defense of the Ancients, it was released in October 2009 for Windows and macOS. The game is monetized through purchasable character customization. League of Legends is a popular game in the MOBA genre.

2007: League of Legends Shown at the Game Developers Conference

In 2007, a League of Legends demonstration built in the Warcraft III game engine was shown at the Game Developers Conference; however, Beck and Merill had little success with potential investors.

October 7, 2008: League of Legends Announcement

On October 7, 2008, League of Legends was announced for Microsoft Windows.

2008: Agreement with Tencent

In 2008, Riot reached an agreement with Tencent to oversee the launch of League of Legends in China.

April 2009: Closed Beta Testing Begins

In April 2009, closed beta-testing for League of Legends began, featuring seventeen available champions.

October 2009: League of Legends Release

In October 2009, League of Legends was released as a free-to-play game for Windows and macOS, monetized through purchasable character customization.

October 27, 2009: North American Release of League of Legends

On October 27, 2009, League of Legends was fully released in North America with double the initially planned number of champions, totaling 40.

2009: Criticism of Grind and Underdeveloped State at Launch

In 2009, League of Legends faced criticism for the grind required to unlock gameplay elements for non-paying players and was considered underdeveloped at launch, with features removed from the beta and frustrating bugs and queue times.

March 2013: Mac Version Release

In March 2013, a Mac version of League of Legends was made available, expanding the game's accessibility beyond Microsoft Windows.

September 2014: Reboot of the Fictional Setting

In September 2014, Riot Games rebooted League of Legends' fictional setting, removing summoners from the game's lore. The Fields of Justice were replaced by Runeterra.

2014: In-Universe Lore Prior to 2014

Before 2014, League of Legends' players existed in-universe as political leaders, or "Summoners", commanding champions to fight on the Fields of Justice to avert a catastrophic war.

2014: Standardized Patch Cadence

In 2014, Riot Games standardized the patch cadence for League of Legends to approximately once every two or three weeks.

2014: Ultra Rapid Fire (URF) Mode Launch

In 2014, Ultra Rapid Fire (URF) mode was available for two weeks as an April Fools' Day prank. In the mode, champion abilities have no resource cost, significantly reduced cooldown timers, increased movement speed, reduced healing, and faster attacks.

2014: Low Percentage of Paying Customers

In 2014, an Ubisoft analyst estimated that only 4% of League of Legends players were paying customers.

April 2015: URF Mode Discontinued

In April 2015, Riot disclosed that they had not brought the Ultra Rapid Fire (URF) mode back because its unbalanced design resulted in player "burnout", and the costs associated with maintaining and balancing URF were too high.

2016: Introduction of Hextech Chests

In 2016, hextech chests, which are purchasable virtual chests that provide random cosmetics, were introduced.

2016: Music Team Expansion

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

2018: Criticism of Female Character Design

In 2018, Strom criticized League of Legends' female characters for resembling those in "horny Clash of Clans clones", highlighting ongoing concerns about character design.

June 2019: Teamfight Tactics Release

In June 2019, Teamfight Tactics, an auto battler, was released as a game mode within League of Legends. It was later made a permanent game mode the following month.

2019: Peak Popularity and Expansion

In 2019, League of Legends peaked at eight million concurrent players. This popularity led to tie-ins such as music, comic books, short stories, and the animated series Arcane, as well as spin-off video games.

2019: League of Legends World Championship Viewership

The 2019 League of Legends World Championship registered over 100 million unique viewers and peaked at a concurrent viewership of 44 million during the finals.

2020: Vanguard's Origin with Valorant

In 2020, Vanguard was originally developed by Riot for their tactical shooter Valorant.

May 2023: Implementation of Vanguard Anti-Cheat Software

Since May 2023, League of Legends uses Riot's custom always-online anti-cheat software, Vanguard, on Microsoft Windows devices.

November 2024: Streamlining Player Rewards and Outrage

In November 2024, Riot Games announced they would streamline player rewards in an upcoming patch, leading to widespread outrage over the perceived complexity and excessive time required to unlock champions. The announcement was described as the studio's "worst PR disaster in years".

2024: Revenue Generation Primarily from Whales

At the 2024 Summer Game Fest, game director Pu Liu said that revenue is primarily generated by a "single-digit percentage" of League of Legends players, colloquially known as whales.

2024: Introduction of New Skin Tier and Gacha Mechanic

In 2024, Riot Games added a new skin tier to League of Legends, which can only be acquired through an in-game slot machine mechanic, widely identified as a gacha game mechanic, with costs ranging from $200 to $430. The company has been using this mechanic for Teamfight Tactics since the previous year.

January 2025: Reversion of Changes and Introduction of Loot Boxes

In mid-January 2025, game director Andrei van Room acknowledged that Riot had "screwed up" with the streamlining of player rewards, partially reverting some of the changes, including halving the cost of purchasing a champion. The developer also announced the return of "hextech chests", a loot box system introduced in 2016, which had been criticized as a form of gambling.

2025: Champion Count in League of Legends

As of 2025, League of Legends has 170 champions available for players to control, each with unique abilities and playstyles.

2025: Champion Count and Visual Overhauls

As of 2025, League of Legends has 170 champions, and Riot Games periodically overhauls the visuals and gameplay of the oldest in the roster.

2025: Controversy over Monetization Strategies

In early 2025, following a series of monetization controversies, PC Gamer's Rick Lane criticized Riot's strategy of "whale chasing" and "psychological manipulation" through the new skin tier, describing it as a way to entice players into "rolling the dice" and exploiting the sunk-cost fallacy.