If any still doubt that the rocket carrying MOBAs and e-sports to the top of the world can sustain its velocity, point them in the direction of these latest numbers from the League of Legends World Championships. Riot say the turnout bettered last year’s event, with a record 334 million viewers oggling livestreams over the tournament’s four weeks.
Even the pros had a first match, once. Here are the best League of Legends champions for greenhorns.
An average of 4.2 million people were watching pros play LoL at any one time, and 36 million came together for the final between SKT and Koo Tigers. Fans watched 360 million hours of live ganking over the course of the month – up from 2014’s 194 million hours, when a mere 288 million spectators turned up.
In the end, SKT were declared the finest League of Legends outfit in the world and given a cool $1 million to remember the day by. In the process, they became the first team in LoL history to win Worlds twice.
Here’s our Chris’ interview with the hosts of this year’s League of Legends final. How much pre and post-match chatter did you wind up watching?