League of Legends was released in 2009 and is still going strong, while other video games from that year are mostly long gone. But the story of LoL is not a simple accident. The game was full of events and developments that Riot challenged and overcame.

Here's a quick look at the story of League of Legends, created by two college friends, that went on to become the biggest esport empire of all time.

From Warcraft III Mod to Standalone MOBA

The beginning of League of Legends traces back to a custom map for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, created by a modder known as Eul and named Defense of the Ancients. At the time, the map already employed a 5v5, three-lane format that LoL uses today.

After Eul stepped away from the project, two players, Meian and Ragn0r, compiled it into DotA: Allstars, which Steve “Guinsoo” Feak then took over and refined further, which helped establish the early MOBA scene.

A community also formed in 2004 when Steve “Pendragon” Mescon launched DotA-allstars, which served as a hub for modders, players, and competitive teams. But many recognized how being confined to an old Warcraft III engine limited DotA, and that's when Riot Games came into the scene.

Riot Games and the Birth of League of Legends

Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill were fellow students and roommates at the University of Southern California and came to question how studios built games that did not respect players' time and money. They founded Riot Games based on this ideology in 2006, out of an apartment in LA.

A standalone multiplayer online battle arena was an odd concept at the time, especially considering Riot Games' plan to make it free to play and monetize only through in-game cosmetics. They had trouble securing investors, but still managed to raise $1.5 million from family and friends and bring Steve Feak and Steve Mescon on board.

They demoed an early build of their game at the 2007 GDC to little success with investors, who were wary of the free-to-play model. Tencent would later acquire Riot Games. They secured funding, and the game further solidified its identity as League of Legends: Clash of Fates. The game was officially announced on October 7, 2008, but nobody foresaw how influential it would become.

Clash of Fates: The Closed Beta Era

The game's closed beta launched on April 11, 2009, with 17 different champions available, each already possessing their signature traits and abilities. While Riot initially targeted a launch with 20 champions, they did so with 40, some of whom defined the future designs of many subsequent additions. There were also some early iconic characters, such as Ashe and her map-crossing ultimate, Annie and the Tibbers nuke, and Master Yi with an alpha strike that turned lobbies upside down.

Characters were defined by their flexibility rather than sticking to a strict role, and a mage could roam across the three lanes as freely as any other pick. The beta ran for six months, until October 26, 2009, then went live in North America the next day.

October 27, 2009: League of Legends Went Live

League of Legends had a very rocky launch in October 2009, with a buggy client, poor server performance, and a game intro that left the objective of the game unclear to newcomers heading into ranked matches. But despite all of that, the free-to-play model was successful in attracting new players while earning enough through the sale of cosmetic skins.

The game successfully grew its player base, reaching 15 million registered League of Legends players by 2011, with 1.4 million logging in daily.

Building the Player Base and the Champion Roster

LoL's first two years saw the game grow quickly through frequent updates and roster additions, with more than one champion added per month. Some came out broken and were later fixed, while others were quickly adopted by players as staple picks for matches. Riot grew quickly throughout this period as well.

Riot leaned heavily into references from anime, comics, and various influences. Players grasped the personalities of new champions easily, allowing many to quickly pick out their main. The roster expanded to over 80 at the end of 2011, but Riot was already building for the next phase of the game.

The Season 1 World Championship and the Esports Big Bang

The first League of Legends World Championship tournament was a small backroom event in Jönköping, Sweden, held at DreamHack in June 2011, with eight teams participating. It was held from June 18 to 20, 2011. The venue seated about 200 people with a prize pool of $100,000.

Fnatic took home the top prize with mid-laner Maciej "Shushei" Ratuszniak becoming the first-ever Worlds MVP. The team brought home $50,000 and a legacy that nobody valued correctly at the time. The Season 2 world playoffs had a much bigger $2 million prize pool, which Taipei Assassins won to become world champions. The Season 3 World Championship in 2013 moved to a much larger but still packed Staples Center, where SK Telecom T1 won its first title.

The event exploded from there, and the League of Legends World Championship final between FunPlus Phoenix and G2 Esports drew over 100 million viewers, a viewership record at the time, peaking at 44 million concurrently.

League of Legends Milestones by Year

Year

Milestone

2006

Riot Games was founded in Los Angeles by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill

2007

Early build demoed at the 2007 Game Developers Conference

2008

League of Legends announced on October 7th

2009

Closed beta in April 2009 with 17 champions, full launch on October 27 with 40 champions

2011

Season 1 World Championship in Sweden, Fnatic wins, 15 million players

2012

World's prize pool jumps to $2 million, Taipei Assassins take it

2013

Mac client launches, SKT T1 wins Worlds at the Staples Center

2014

Summoner's Rift visual update, 67 million monthly active players, lore reboot

2015

SK Telecom T1 becomes the first two-time World Champion

2017

Runes Reforged replaces the old runes and masteries system

2018

Invictus Gaming becomes the first Chinese team to win the world championship

2019

Teamfight Tactics launches, Twisted Treeline retired, 44 million concurrent peak

2020

Wild Rift and Legends of Runeterra arrive, item shop rebuilt around Mythic items

2021

Arcane Season 1 hits Netflix and tops charts in 52 countries

2024

Riot Vanguard anti-cheat ships for League in May, Mythic items removed in preseason, Arcane Season 2 closes the show

2025

Riot announces "League Next" overhaul targeting client and visuals

2026

Season 2: Pandemonium runs through patches 26.09 to 26.14 with 172 champions

How Riot Kept Breaking League of Legends (And Why It Worked)

Summoner's Rift didn't come alone, it wasn't the only baby that was born. On October 27, 2009, it brought Twisted Treeline's 3v3 along with it. But players quickly made their preference clear, they knew what they wanted. The 5v5 format, two teams of five clashing on Summoner's Rift, became the main event and never stopped from then. 

And like any other good keeper, Riot experimented around it. Dominion launched on the Crystal Scar in 2011 as a game mode, only for it to fade away in 2016. Twisted Treeline hung around longer only to reach on November 19, 2019. 

But what about Howling Abyss? Born out of the Freljord event, that my friend tells a different story. Players went wild for the all-random, all-mid, it was hype. It was all fun. Riot leaned in.

Summoner's Rift itself got a dramatic facelift on November 12, 2014 with patch 4.19. With all the new textures, reworks and new goodies, it made the map feel more like a different game.

How Riot Built One of the Largest Esports in the World

The Season 1 World Championship was a modest start to League of Legends' esports journey. There was a room, a handful of teams. But most of all: a vision. By 2013, regional infrastructure was in place: the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) covering North America and Europe, alongside Korea and China, all funneling toward a Worlds each fall.

On July 12, 2013, the USCIS formally recognized League of Legends esports professional players as athletes for Visa purposes. A moment that would reshape what it means to be a pro gamer. Worlds grew into a genuinely global event, with co-streams in dozens of languages and arena deals spanning 3 continents from North America to Southeast Asia.

The Reworks That Reshaped How League Is Played

League of Legends has never been afraid to break things up only to build it back up. It valued experimentation, it valued creativity and the community behind it. The willingness to adapt on both sides is a big part of why the game is still going strong even sixteen years in. Here are a few notable ones:

Reforged Runes in 2017

Masteries and runes got thrown out entirely, replaced with five rune paths and 60 individual runes, all free. It wasn't a tweak, it changed almost every champion in the game was played.

Item Shop and Mythic system in 2020

Item layout was reorganized to work around rarities in Season 11, and introduced the one Mythic per build rule.

The Mythic teardown of 2024

The Mythic build rule was removed after four years, and along with it came a rework of neutral objectives and a shift in early-game pace.

Champion reworks

Riot Games decided to rebuild certain champions from scratch. These included Sion, Urgot, Galio, Aatrox, Mordekaiser, Volibear, and Fiddlesticks. But these were welcome changes as they kept older characters relevant.

Arcane, Runeterra, and the Universe Beyond the Game

Despite the game launching with its own lore, Riot decided to do away with it and start anew with the new fictional setting of planet Runeterra. This decision paved the way for future expansions.

K/DA debuted as a virtual K-pop group with music videos that ranked in YouTube's all-time charts. They also launched a spin-off card game called Legends of Runeterra. There's also Wild Rift with a redesigned mobile build of the game.

Riot also expanded into other media with the release of Arcane, which became a hit on Netflix in November 2021. The show was so successful that it drew in non-LoL players. The series is also critically well-received and holds a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where League of Legends Gameplay Stands in 2026

League of Legends has 172 champions now, after 16 years of growth and updates. Even now, Riot is unafraid of introducing changes to the game and has shown it is willing to shake up the meta and directly impact pro play. But this turned out to be their strength, which helped keep the game relevant over a decade after its initial release.

Very few popular video games have the distinctions League's history has earned, but this is well deserved if we look closely at the game's entire run.