Research Shows League of Legends Is Most Popular Esport on Twitch

Research conducted by EsportsBets has identified the 20 most popular esports games with League of Legends earning the highest overall rank among other competitive games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and DOTA 2.

EsportsBets (via GamesIndustry.biz) gathered the esports information in wake of the idea that esports events could be considered as a possible addition to the 2024 Olympics. The decision of whether to include esports in the competitions hasn't been reached yet, though it has been said that competitive games would likely be centered around sports while avoiding violence, but EsportsBets hoped to determine with of these esports would be most popular based on current numbers.

By visiting the EsportsBets site that detailed the popularity ranking of the most well-known esports games, you'll see that League of Legends ranks in first place when sorting the standings by "Overall Ranking." Pulling data from sources such as esportsearnings.com and Twitch's streaming platform, the site gathered the following info about League of Legends' stats.

• TOTAL ESPORT PRIZE MONEY AWARDED
  • $48,569,038
• AVERAGE TWITCH STREAMERS
  • 117,855
• PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS
  • 5,028
• TOURNAMENTS
  • 1,931

The data also showed that South Korea dominates the game with the country being home to the "Top Player By Prize Money Won," that player being Sang Hyeok Lee and better known as Faker. South Korea is also the top country by prize money won.

While League of Legends may be the most popular esport overall according to EsportsBets, its standing changes a bit depending on how the standings are sorted. When it comes to games that shell out the most prize money, DOTA 2 has League beat by a significant margin. According to the stats, DOTA 2 has distributed $128,636,938 in prize money, a huge jump from League of Legends' $48,569,038.

Looking at the other stats separately, League of Legends also trails in other areas such as the number of tournaments category that's led by StarCraft II and the total number of professional players that's led by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with 8,637 pros. However, when it comes to the esports game with the most Twitch streamers, League of Legends is back on top once again with an average of 117,855 streamers. That's more than double DOTA 2's average of 52,522 streamers with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds taking the No. 3 spot just behind DOTA 2 with 52,503 average streamers.

For those wondering where Fortnite stands in all this with the game taking off on Twitch, it's not included in the rankings since it hasn't held an esports tournament yet. That hasn't stopped organizations from putting together teams though, so expect to see that in the future.

[EsportsBets & GamesIndustry.biz]