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League of Legends is one of the most popular games in the world. With over 100 million active players, this game has redefined the MOBA genre and is the flagship title for Esports. The League of Legends release date matters to understand the game’s history, early concepts, Esports, or simply curiosity.
League of Legends was released on October 27th, 2009. The game is a MOBA developed by Riot Games, published on Windows then macOS in 2013.
League of Legends received monumental success, reaching 35 million monthly players in 2012, 65 million in 2014, and eventually crossing the 100 million mark in 2017. In the previous years, the active players count remained in the 120 to 150 million range.
League of Legends originated as a spiritual successor for Defense of the Ancients. Riot Games co-founders Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck wanted to create a MOBA that would have more polish, reach, and lasting support.
League of Legends was the product of this. Initially, investors placed little faith in it, as this genre and the free-to-play monetization system did not hold weight at the time in the West. Regardless, they reached an agreement with Tencent and the game went on.
The closed beta started in April 2009 with 17 champions available to play, with the initial roster actually reaching 40 for the full release of the game in 2009. The game was initially set to be named League of Legends: Clash of Fates, but the subtitle was dropped before launch.
At launch LoL was something different altogether. The striking thing when coming across any 2009 or 2010 video on YouTube is how rough the graphics were. Similar to the MMOs of the time, with minimalist visuals solely meant to drive attention to effects, and flashing text. Colors were bright and vibrant, and the HUD took up half of the screen.
However, what people will mostly point to today is how wild the notion of design was. There were only 40 champions, but each one of them was a shot in the dark. 5-second stuns, dodges, mana drain, every kit at the time would be seen as broken today.
Runes and masteries granted stats, skins were recolors or at best changes of clothing. The game was new and nothing was solved, though, so no one knew how to use the crazy things they had in their hands.
Katarina of the Original 40 Champions. (Image Source: Riot Games)
Since its release in October 2009, everything has changed in League of Legends. The roster has quadrupled, the map has changed alongside every monster, almost all items are new, in and out-of-game systems were revamped, monetization is fully different, and Esports has become established.
Here’s a timeline of League’s major changes:
| Year | Major changes |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Release of the game |
| 2010 | Season 1
Major visual improvements |
| 2011 | Season One World Championship Release of Dominion Start of the Public Beta Environment Season 2, streamline of the seasons |
| 2012 | Roster reaches 100 champions Twisted Treeline rework Introduction of the Honor system |
| 2013 | Rank tiers replace the visible ELO Formation of the official professional leagues Release of ARAM Beginning of temporary game modes with One For All |
| 2014 | Introduction of trinkets, first vision rework First client rework Ultra Rapid Fire Summoner’s Rift Visual Update |
| 2015 | UI rework Massive item rework, making all items useful Introduction of keystone masteries |
| 2016 | Rework of the Draft system Introduction of dynamic queue, removing ranked teams Introduction of Hextech Crafting Introduction of Elemental Drakes and Rift Herald Removal of Dominion |
| 2017 | Introduction of flex queue, replacing dynamic queue Client rework (into the current client) Honor rework League of Legends reaches 100 million active players Runes Reforged Blue essence replaces Influence Points as the game’s free currency |
| 2018 | Introduction of Iron and Grandmaster, tiers now only have 4 divisions |
| 2019 | Failed test of role queue in North America End of login screens Introduction of Teamfight Tactics Removal of Twisted Treeline Elemental Rift, support items rework |
| 2020 | End of the League boards Mythic items |
| 2021 | Arcane Season 1 |
| 2022 | Introduction of Challenges |
| 2023 | PBE becomes open access Introduction of Emerald rank Seasons have two splits, removal of preseason |
| 2024 | Removal of mythic items Seasons have three splits Introduction of Vanguard Arcane Season 2 |
| 2025 | Introduction of themed seasons, Atakhan, and Feats of Strength Introduction of Swiftplay Splits no longer reset the rank |
LoL started as a concept that was doubted by investors as it was exploring a mostly untested vein. A free-to-play game, meant to be accessible by anyone even with the lowest computer specs. For investors, that meant no guarantee of success or of revenue. For the players however, that meant every person starting on even footing, with only skill to differentiate one from another.
Riot organized major competitions with an appealing prize pool. On top of the rank system, this made people want to be competitive. However, the real deal came in 2013 with the creation of the professional leagues. NA LCS, EU LCS (now LEC), LPL, OGN (now LCK), and the others; all circuits were replaced with leagues that played year-long – and still do today.
Compared to other Esports, League of Legends has a low prize pool for its World Championship – but its pro players have an actual salary, all of them.
By now, the LoL World Championship is the biggest Esports event. It’s broadcast in cinemas, on some national televisions, and obviously on Youtube, Twitch and others where it gets hundreds of millions of views. Mainstream celebrities participate to it, such as Imagine Dragons, Lil Nas X, NewJeans, or Linkin Park.
League of Legends’ all-time best player and six-time World Champion Faker has in fact become a mainstream celebrity. Granted the title of “national treasure”, he is one of the most popular figures in South Korea.
LoL made MOBAs popular at a time when there was little interest for them. Since then, many others were created riding off that interest. In turn, MOBAs caused the downfall of RTS games.
At the start, League only had a quarter of the champions that are in the game now. Even with that small roster though, some champions were never played at all – seeing them picked was a legitimate surprise. Poppy, Sion, Galio, Heimerdinger, Urgot, and worst of all Karma. Reworks hadn’t started until Karma’s in 2013, and that left us with 10% of the champions having a very unappealing design. On the other hand, these champions definitely felt unique to play.
Login wasn’t automatic, there was a login screen where players had to re-enter their password every time they would log in. The login screen was an animated picture of the latest champion, major skin, or event release, with the corresponding theme playing alongside. All players who started before 2019 fondly remember their first login screen, while newer players won’t recall which champion was the most recent when they first played League.
The servers were shaky, though, and EU West most of all. The game being down on weekends was nothing surprising. However, typing “thereisnourflevel” in the login screen would un-block the login button and let one access the game.
URF’s login screen welcoming us to League (Image Source: Riot Games)
League’s release date matters when it comes to understanding how far the game has come. Seeing the current product is something, but it was certainly not always like that.
Looking at pictures and videos from the beta and season 1 fuels nostalgia. As do the login screens, champion kits from these days, Dominion, or the autumn or winter map. However, they also show the difference in quality. Differences in visuals, in kit clarity, in monetization, but also in player levels. Pro players in 2013 would likely lose to Emerald players of 2025, given how much better we understand the game now!
For that reason, the LoL release date also matters for Esports history, and for the legacies.
League of Legends is far from flawless. But it comes from so much less than what it is now. 160 champions, 120+ million active players, thousands of skins that can be obtained for free, and the biggest Esports.
LoL is the game that doesn’t die. Patch after patch, it constantly reignites the interest, and no game release has managed to topple it.
Featured Image Source: Riot Games
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