As RNG defeated DK 3:2 to win the championship of this year’s MIS, the first major League of Legends event this year also came to an end. Surprisingly, although the popularity of League of Legends is gradually declining at a speed visible to the naked eye, the number of global viewers once exceeded 1.8 million. Two years ago, this number was only close to 540,000. This has made many people clamor for heroes. Alliances are a thing of the past. (Since domestic live broadcasts like to use the popularity calculation method, it is difficult to determine the accurate number of viewers, so the general LPL audience is not included in the statistics)

Of course, the development of League of Legends has not been smooth sailing. With the 2016 The popularity of Overwatch, the sudden rise of chicken-fighting in 2017, and the launch of the Honor of Kings mobile game have greatly affected LOL, and many players and anchors have chosen to change their positions. However, as time goes by, the "old bacon" of League of Legends not only did not plummet, but relied on IG and FPX to win the S championship, which means it is making a comeback. However, once promising games such as Chicken Dinner and Overwatch, after just a few years of operation, they finally declined rapidly due to the influence of cheats, single gameplay, and similar competing products, resulting in serious player losses. Until 2021, the most popular PC game in the world is still League of Legends.

At the same time, people can’t help but have some doubts about why League of Legends, a classic MOBA game born in 2009, has such strong vitality, and why it is difficult for other games to challenge LOL’s dominance. Heroes How many more years can the league remain popular? There are probably no standard answers to these questions, so I will just share some humble opinions on this, which can be considered as a way to attract others.

1. The strong vitality of LOL

(1) Excellent game body

The author probably came into contact with LOL around the second year of high school. At that time, I followed my classmates inexplicably into the game. A trap. I still remember that because I was underage, I could only search for an ID number online to register. Then he occasionally skipped class and rushed into a black Internet cafe near the school with his classmates, driving the three novice heroes to fight in the Summoner's Rift. Now, as an "old bird", I look back on those days, and I can't help but wonder why I am so addicted? After thinking about it again and again, I attribute it to one thing, and that is its excellent ontology built around music, art, gameplay, background stories, etc.

Let’s talk about the gameplay first. LOL is a classic MOBA game. This term was actually pioneered by Riot Games. Before this, most games of this model were called "DOTA-like" games. This ultimate goal of destroying enemy crystals can greatly improve the antagonism and cooperation of the game. Whether it is a personal genius operation, a pleasing team battle, or even a god-level dragon grab at a critical moment, it can make people excited. , unable to control oneself. Even if we fail temporarily, we will still think about getting back on track next time. (That’s why we have ten consecutive defeats. Damn it.) At this time, we are no longer an ordinary player, but have become the summoner in the game, fighting with the heroes for honor and disgrace. And compared with DOTA2, LOL does not have a denying mechanism, and the difficulty of getting started with heroes is generally low, so even players with weak hands can have a better experience. In addition, LOL can always introduce new things on the map, and the rich and diverse maps are suitable for players of almost all temperaments. The Buddhist-style polar brawl, the exciting unlimited firepower, and the fun Clone Wars and other modes are really endlessly fun to play. In the early days, the doomsday robots, ascension mode, six-kill battle, Poro battle, Odyssey, etc. are still talked about by players now. Of course, while Riot Games has achieved great success, it has not stood still. Major version updates every once in a while have greatly extended the vitality of LOL. Even though the players complained endlessly before the version update, they quickly went to experience new equipment, new creatures, and new maps. (Ah, it smells so good~)

Secondly, regarding art, Riot Games can be said to have grasped the real code of wealth. The painting style of LOL itself is more cartoon-like. The lines of the characters are very clear and the three-dimensional effect is strong; while the scenes are built with 3D modules, and the refreshing and bright interface looks very pleasing to the eye. At the same time, Riot Games is very diligent in updating hero skins. Chinese style, sci-fi style, dark style, western style, etc. emerge in endlessly, and often people have the urge to spend money, such as Western Cowboy Lucian, Flame + Demon + Western Cowboy. The combination is so cool! (Personally ranked No. 1, I feel like he and Lucian are two heroes) Riot Games must also be praised here, because they are really willing to listen to players’ opinions, and they can even come up with things like Magical Girl Urgot. Please don’t watch it. Through the eyes of "Lao Xu dressed in women's clothing"

As for music, I think there is no need to say more. Don't forget that Riot also has a good name - "Fist Music Company". Every S competition will produce high-quality products, from "Warriors" by Menglong, Nicki Taylor's "Worlds Collide", to "LegendsNeverDie" in the regretful S7 season, to "rise" and "Phoenix" that won the championship twice.

Whenever I open LOL, I can't help but turn on this music. It feels like I am a hero galloping on the battlefield. I can fight with swords and swords instantly. Even if I face a faker, I can easily bushi! In addition to the theme song of the S competition, Riot also created its first album "TheMusicOfLeagueOfLegendsVolume1" in 2015, and created the KDA band's first championship single "POP/STARS" in 2018, which also became popular all over the Internet. (Hey, Ahri, my Ahri)

Finally, let’s talk about the huge League of Legends story universe that Riot has carefully created in the past few years. The early LOL did not have a complete map. Players mostly learned about the traces of Runeterra from the background stories of heroes and the MVs released by Riot Games. For example, Noxus is a martial country and is a mortal enemy of Demacia; Piltover and Zaun are twin city-states, and their hex technology is very powerful; the Shadow Islands are the territory of Thresh and Centaur. Lucian’s wife is here. Players are also keen on forming various CPs, such as Carter and Dema, Raven and Yasuo, EZ and gems, male guns and cards, etc. (Lux is crying tonight). As LOL and its players grew stronger, Riot Games also began to build a magnificent universe like Azeroth. In the 2017 major version update, Riot Games showed the entire Runeterra for the first time, including the Freljord in the far north, Noxus and Demacia in the northwest, and Ioni standing proudly in the northeast. Asia, the Zupibi Free Federation scattered in the middle, the Shadow Island in the southeast corner, Shurima and Targon in the southwest. All the countries we are familiar with have finally been imprinted in our minds in a clearer way. Their names have changed from A symbol gradually grew into the prototype of a real city-state, and the heroes who had been wandering for many years could finally return to their homeland. In subsequent versions, Riot Games, in addition to filling in the game background of LOL step by step, also established a real main story line - the wandering mage Ryze is searching for the lost world runes on the mainland. And now, Lucian has welcomed his wife Sena, and the Shadow Island has also welcomed its owner, the Ruined King. The once blank history is gradually becoming vivid and vivid. I seem to be seeing a thick volume of chronicles. Spread out slowly.

Looking back, I feel deeply for a long time. Perhaps it is a psychological bonus that I can’t get when I am young, but fundamentally, what attracts me to LOL is that it is sophisticated and interesting enough. For such an "epic masterpiece", as long as it remains excellent and is still improving, I don't think players will abandon it easily.

(2) Mature e-sports events

If LOL’s sophisticated ontology provides it with basic users, then the injection of capital will completely transform this game into a mature one. Commercial competition. While some people are badmouthing LOL, the quota of one LPL team has been sold for hundreds of millions. Behind the sky-high price of admission tickets is the result of Tencent and Riot Games continuing to commercialize e-sports.

E-sports, I believe many people have heard of its name. The day IG won the championship, it seemed to appear overnight, and the entire Internet was competing to discuss it. But where this term came from and how it developed, other than people in the industry probably have no idea. Therefore, here I will do some small popular science first. In fact, the beginning of e-sports can be traced back to the 1986 ABC channel live broadcast of two children playing against each other on Nintendo game consoles. With the birth of the Famicom, Nintendo held game competitions in 29 cities across the United States. These events were a huge success. The Nintendo World Championship also became the first video game competition in history. It was much earlier than the WCG we later knew. 10 years. Subsequently, the outbreak of the financial crisis led to a global economic depression. South Korea started the starting point of e-sports with the popularity of "StarCraft". To this day, South Korea is still the only country in the world with a complete e-sports industry chain.

In China, although e-sports was classified as the 99th official sports competition by the General Administration of Sports in 2003, at that time, children’s parents, school teachers and even the national public opinion environment regarded games as It’s a scourge, let alone any development. In the following ten years, the government and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television also made a lot of efforts to dispel people's misunderstandings about games, such as "Date with Luyu" producing a series of programs for e-sports world champions, CCTV5 "Sports World" broadcasting heroes Documentary of Alliance Prince Esports Club, the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games even included esports as a performance event. The people in China have finally understood the fact that under the bombardment of information in the Internet age, there is money to be made and a way out by playing games, and they can even bring glory to the country.

The e-sports industry has developed so hugely, how can the capital giants stop? Thanks to LOL’s huge global users, League of Legends’ e-sports development has been smooth sailing. Take the LPL as an example. In 2018, V5 spent 80 million to enter the LPL. In 2019, according to PDD live broadcast, ES's LPL admission fee was nearly 100 million. In 2020, according to rumors, the sales price of ES and RW has reached 170 million. Despite the impact of the epidemic, such a terrifying increase all illustrates the fact that capital is still optimistic about the red ocean of e-sports. The number of global spectators that has continued to increase over the years also confirms this.

The e-sports operation of LOL, which looks at the world, has created a broad demand for jobs in the gradually mature e-sports system, from core players, coaches, managers to marginal operations, translators, photographers and even cooking aunts, and even further. fans and live streaming industry. Such a complete industrial chain supports a large number of people and contributes a huge new consumer population to the country. E-sports is like a solid high wall built by capital around LOL. Today, it is really hard for me to imagine what the scene of LOL's death would be like.

(3) Content Creation

Since the development of League of Legends, it has formed a very complete industrial chain. From upstream game companies, to midstream e-sports events, to downstream content dissemination. We have already roughly discussed the first two, and downstream content creation is actually a link that most people are more likely to come into contact with.

Do you regularly open Station B every Friday to see what food Lao Xu’s patrol has fed us today? Do you occasionally open the related communities of League of Legends? Check out the teaching strategies for various heroes; or, you surf with high intensity every day, and suddenly you accidentally saw a wonderful "Muscle Golden Wheel" and became deeply addicted to it

Whether you are a LOL player The player is still a game-related media, or an ordinary passerby. In this era where traffic is paramount, as long as you are on the Internet, all kinds of complex information will come to you like raindrops, leaving you with nowhere to hide. The content production of LOL is very easy to get out of the circle, and all kinds of memes are flying everywhere, such as the classic sayings of 50% off, UZI's YYDS, Teacher Ma's Wuhu Takeoff, etc. When these memes spread on the Internet, many unique second creations joined the feast, one Bible after another, and everyone enjoyed it. Almost every once in a while, LOL-related content will appear in hot searches across the Internet, and viewers, anchors and even celebrities are willing to take advantage of this wave of traffic. It can be said that this continuous popularity has further strengthened the vitality of the game.

2. Comparison of similar and heterogeneous games

Although LOL has such a huge advantage, it is not that no games have come to challenge its dominance before.

The one that impressed me the most was undoubtedly PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which came out in 2017. To say that it came out of nowhere is a bit exaggerated. After all, the originator of the game is still H1Z1. Unfortunately, it was quickly overshadowed by PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds with more realistic graphics and richer gameplay. Chicken-fighting, a battle royale mode that integrates gunplay, strategy, competition, etc., quickly attracted players from all over the world, and the game spread all over the country. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds became popular due to its live broadcast, which in turn attracted more anchors to join the game. For example, LOL leaders such as 55kai, PDD, and Miss Miss are not immune. If Overwatch in 2016 pulled out a hair from LOL, then PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in 2017 really started to try to draw blood from LOL. As PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds becomes more and more popular, more and more voices are badmouthing LOL. However, the good times did not last long. Due to the rampant cheating and the withdrawal of professional teams, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds players began a cliff-like decline in 2019. Now CS:GO has returned to the number one spot on Steam.

The decline of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is actually conceivable. On the one hand, it has payment and platform restrictions. Not everyone loves Steam, and everyone is willing to spend money to buy a game first; On the other hand, FPS is also a game type with a threshold after all. For players who are not good at gunplay, the experience brought by chicken fighting is not good. Most people will lose it after being killed many times inexplicably. Interest in continuing the game. (The early Overwatch is really a shooting game with the best experience in a novice environment)

If FPS games limit the number of people because of their type, then why do MOBA games such as DOTA2 and Heroes of the Storm, which are also MOBA games? Is it so different from LOL? The author believes that LOL made most MOBA players adapt to its gameplay by occupying the market early and set a typical example. When other PC-side MOBA games are launched later, the awkwardness of player operations and the unfamiliarity of the map are far greater than the freshness it brings. The higher cost makes many players choose to abandon the game midway and return to the embrace of LOL. However, drawing on the characteristics of Warcraft RPG maps and DOTA, the Dream Three Kingdoms with the traditional Chinese history as the background is, in my opinion, a new approach to some extent. It is just the hero card policy and the level in 2013 that Electronic Soul launched in 2012 for profit. The design greatly damaged the vitality of the game. By 2014 and 2015, players had been severely lost and switched to other games. As the timeline stretches, LOL's first-mover advantage becomes more and more obvious, and its position in PC MOBA games can no longer be shaken. As for LOL and DOTA2, in fact, someone has already conducted detailed analysis. The author will only mention one point here. In terms of entry for newbies, LOL has really won too much.

3. How many years can LOL remain popular?

Finally, after the above discussion, we return to the original question: How many years can LOL remain popular?

Although the current results are relatively optimistic, if you think about it, there are many crises in LOL. It may be due to a certain design imbalance of Riot Games, it may be ruined by Tencent's poor operations, or it may be moved. A certain game on the Internet scrapes the bones and sucks the marrow.

However, these crises have not touched the foundation of LOL. Even if they occur, it may be like a short decline in the chicken era. It is only a matter of time before it returns to its peak.

However, there is one truth that cannot be ignored, that is, technology is the primary productive force. Every change in the gaming world has a huge connection with technology. From vacuum tubes and circuit diagrams in ancient times, to ancient microprocessors, to modern 3D modeling, touch technology and increasingly mature artificial intelligence, humans have always been pursuing a "realistic" experience.

We hope that future games can be another world, another spiritual garden, or even another warm hometown. According to this trend, games may be a 100% immersive experience, they may be something that can be played in the palm of your hand, or they may be chip implanted like in science fiction movies. Either way, it will announce the decline of LOL, and this decline will most likely also be the decline of traditional games.

Of course, if such a day comes, LOL will naturally be able to take advantage of the new technology, and we can truly transform into heroes and appear in Summoner's Rift for a thrilling battle of blood and flesh!