How many people play Riot Games? Players, revenue and esports
League of Legends games reached 180 million monthly players in October 2021, and Worlds 2024 drew a record 6.8 million peak viewers.
Riot Games’ League of Legends titles had 180 million monthly players in October 2021, Riot said, as PC Gamer reported. In November 2024, the Worlds final between T1 and Bilibili Gaming peaked at 6,856,769 viewers outside China, the most-watched esports match on record, according to Esports Charts.
Riot Games has been fully owned by Tencent since 2015, so it doesn’t trade as a standalone company. Its weight comes from two games, League of Legends and Valorant, and the esports scenes around them. Here are the numbers on players, revenue and esports records.
Riot Games key statistics
- 180 million: monthly players across League of Legends games, October 2021.
- 28 million: Valorant monthly players, October 2023.
- 6,856,769: peak viewers for Worlds 2024, the all-time esports record outside China.
- ₩491.3 billion (about $331.6 million): Riot Games Korea revenue in 2025.
- 6: World Championship titles won by Faker, the most in history.
- $41.5 million: Valorant esports prize money awarded by October 2026.
- 530: employees laid off in January 2024, 11% of Riot’s workforce.
League of Legends players
League of Legends games had 180 million monthly players in October 2021
- League of Legends launched in October 2009 and had 11.5 million monthly players by November 2011.
- In September 2019, for its 10th anniversary, Riot said about 8 million people played at once at peak each day, SVG reported.
- In October 2021, Riot said its League of Legends games, including Wild Rift, Teamfight Tactics and Legends of Runeterra, had 180 million monthly players.
| When | Players |
|---|---|
| November 2011 | 11.5 million monthly |
| September 2019 | about 8 million at once each day |
| October 2021 | 180 million monthly, all League of Legends games |
Is League of Legends dying? No. Worlds drew more than 6.7 million peak viewers in both 2024 and 2025, against fewer than 4 million in 2019, and Riot’s Korean business grew its revenue in 2025.
At 17 years old, League of Legends remains one of the most-played PC games in the world. Riot keeps it going with a steady stream of new champions, cosmetics and seasonal updates.
Riot Games revenue
Riot Games Korea made ₩491.3 billion in revenue in 2025
Riot doesn’t publish group accounts, but its South Korean arm files yearly results there, and they give a good read on the business.
| Year | Revenue | Game revenue | Operating profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | ₩448.0 billion | ₩412.3 billion | ₩101.3 billion |
| 2024 | ₩443.2 billion | ₩421.1 billion | ₩47.1 billion |
| 2025 | ₩491.3 billion | ₩458.7 billion | ₩102.7 billion |
The 2023 figures were reported by GameVu, 2024 by ChosunBiz and 2025 by Hotspawn.
- Tencent took a majority stake in Riot in 2011 and full ownership in December 2015.
- Riot’s revenue model is built almost entirely on cosmetics, mainly champion skins, with no pay-to-win items.
The cosmetics model, where players pay for looks rather than an edge, has proven remarkably durable over more than 15 years, and it’s the template many live-service games have tried to copy.
Riot Games restructuring
Riot Games laid off 530 employees, 11% of its workforce, in January 2024
- On 22 January 2024, Riot announced it would lay off 530 people, about 11% of its global staff, Reuters reported.
- Chief executive Dylan Jadeja said the company needed to refocus on its core games.
- It was the biggest round of cuts in Riot’s history, and it scaled back the card game Legends of Runeterra and closed the Riot Forge publishing label.
The cuts came during a wave of industry layoffs in 2023 and 2024, and marked Riot’s return to the two franchises that bring in most of its money.
League of Legends esports
For prize money and audiences across all games, see our esports statistics.
Worlds 2024 set the all-time esports record with 6,856,769 peak viewers
- The Worlds 2024 final in London, T1 against Bilibili Gaming, peaked at 6,856,769 viewers outside China.
- It beat the previous record of about 5.41 million, set by the Free Fire World Series in 2021.
- Worlds 2025 came close, at 6,752,585.
| Year | Worlds peak viewers (outside China) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 3,981,706 |
| 2020 | 3,884,667 |
| 2021 | 4,018,728 |
| 2022 | 5,147,701 |
| 2023 | 6,402,760 |
| 2024 | 6,856,769 |
| 2025 | 6,752,585 |
Figures from Esports Charts. Chinese platforms measure their audiences separately, so they aren’t included.
Faker is the only six-time League of Legends world champion
- Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok won Worlds in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
- He was the first player to pass 100 match wins at Worlds.
- He has played his whole career for T1, formerly SK Telecom T1, the most decorated team in League of Legends.
Faker’s record has no real equal in esports. Winning six world titles across 13 years, in a game whose meta shifts every patch, is a feat few athletes in any sport can match.
Valorant
Valorant had 28 million monthly players in October 2023
- Riot said in October 2023 that Valorant had 28 million monthly players, and that 70% of them were Gen Z.
- Valorant launched in June 2020 and became one of the most-played tactical shooters within its first year.
- Valorant Champions 2024 in Seoul peaked at 1.41 million viewers outside China, Esports Charts reported.
- Champions 2023 and 2024 each had a $2.25 million prize pool.
- By October 2026, Valorant esports had awarded $41.5 million in prize money across 1,388 tournaments, according to Esports Earnings.
In six years, Valorant has built a prize history that rivals games with far longer esports careers, thanks to Riot’s direct investment in the competitive scene.