“League of Legends” is an undisputed heavyweight.
Riot Games’ flagship title generated nearly $1.75 billion in revenue in 2020, the most by any non-mobile free-to-play game. It was No. 6 for free-to-play games overall:
- Honor Kings (Tencent) — $2.45 billion
- Peacekeeper Elite (Tencent) — $2.32 billion
- Roblox (Roblox Corp.) — $2.29 billion
- Free Fire (Garena) — $2.13 billion
- Pokémon GO (Niantic, Inc.) — $1.92 billion
Free-to-play games account for 78% of the video game industry’s revenue.
2020 was a bit of a resurgence for “League of Legends.” After its revenue peaked at $2.1 billion in 2017, it fell to $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Last year’s jump is in line with the massive growth of the entire industry. Global video game revenue is expected to increase 20% year-over-year to nearly $175 billion when final 2020 figures are reported.
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