Each day, Riot Games’ League of Legends has an average of more than 27 million people log in and play, according to a statement given to the Wall Street Journal. That number has more than doubled since October 2012, when the game touted 12 million users per day. Riot also confirmed that it has seen spikes of 7.5 million users playing at the same time.
League of Legends is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA) whose income is driven by microtransactions. In 2013, the game recorded the second most revenue for an online game, with $624 million. Although League of Legends was a distant second behind CrossFire’s $957 million, Riot’s game was nearly $200 million ahead of the third biggest game, Dungeon Fighter Online.
League of Legends is also one of the most popular eSports games, and it frequently dominates online tournaments in terms of viewership. In October 2013, the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship attracted 32 million people over the course of the event, with 8.5 million watching concurrently at peak times. By comparison, 2012’s Season 2 Championship attracted a total of 8.2 million, with 1.1 million watching at the same time during peak hours.