Buzz
It appears that in Riot Games' homeland - North America, League of Legends is facing a rather 'dire' situation.
In recent years, we've grown accustomed to terms like 'the world's biggest game' or 'the most successful game' when describing League of Legends. This recognition stems from the enormous and loyal player base across many countries worldwide. Even on gaming forums, League of Legends often ranks among the games with the largest active community.
However, the substantial success of League of Legends is now under significant questioning. In Riot Games' very homeland - North America, both the player base and viewership have witnessed a considerable decline. Specifically, LCS tournament viewership peaked in 2019, and currently, the viewing hours and audience size for LCS in 2022 have dropped by approximately 35-40% compared to three years ago.
According to shared experiences from gamers in the North American League of Legends community, many players from the early seasons have completely stopped following the game. 'Players like me who started from the beginning are now over 30 years old. Most League of Legends players around my age no longer follow it because we don't have the time to research or watch tournaments,' said one player.
We have jobs, kids, and a myriad of other responsibilities to attend to instead of playing 10 matches a day or watching 6 LCS games. Hence, the number of viewers for LCS and the interest in League of Legends content creators in North America are plummeting,' - A seasoned gamer with the account BottlesforCaps shared on the Reddit forum.
For the early League of Legends gamers, staying connected with the game at this point is a daunting task. As mentioned earlier, they have all matured and taken on more responsibilities in society, making it impossible to play League of Legends continuously for many hours.
Moreover, League of Legends itself has become much less captivating than before, causing not only players but also content creators to abandon it. Except for Tyler1, most early-generation League of Legends content creators in North America have left the game. For example, names like Pokimane and Lilypichu have shifted towards more 'feminine' content such as chatting and art instead of playing League of Legends for 8 hours a day.
Clearly, in a highly competitive market like North America, Riot's lack of innovative directions for League of Legends in recent years has caused the game to lose its standing. This has happened before when the battle royale game wave emerged, and League of Legends continuing to struggle in its home turf, North America, is quite evident.
