League of Legends: Wild Rift rakes in $1bn, but still sits lower than its mobile rivals
Overview & Key Takeaways
League of Legends is undoubtedly the most iconic name in the MOBA genre, and that's been reflected in its ongoing success for developer Riot. But it wasn't until 2020 that they really took a step into mobile with the launch of League of Legends: Wild Rift. And it seems that gamble really paid off for them, with Wild Rift now raking in over $1bn in revenue. This puts them in good company with other 'unicorns', that is to say games which have made over a billion dollars. However, a look at the chart from Data.ai still puts them below other heavyweights in the MOBA genre in terms of downloads, active users and that all-important (to business folks) revenue. ... [MORE]
- League of Legends: Wild Rift has raked in over $1bn in revenue
- This puts them in good company but still slightly below rivals like Honor of Kings
- However, Wild Rift's widespread popularity indicates the race may be tighter than most expected
League of Legends is undoubtedly the most iconic name in the MOBA genre, and that's been reflected in its ongoing success for developer Riot. But it wasn't until 2020 that they really took a step into mobile with the launch of League of Legends: Wild Rift. And it seems that gamble really paid off for them, with Wild Rift now raking in over $1bn in revenue.
This puts them in good company with other 'unicorns', that is to say games which have made over a billion dollars. However, a look at the chart from Data.ai still puts them below other heavyweights in the MOBA genre in terms of downloads, active users and that all-important (to business folks) revenue.
No honour
Yes, it's the usual angle for this kind of news, which is that (shock, horror) Honor of Kings is still on top, followed by Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Arena of Valour. However, while it's tempting to go with my usual line of 'Well, this shows that League is not as mega-popular as it may seem to us in the West.' I don't think that's necessarily true here.
If anything, considering Wild Rift launched only in 2020 and has already hit this newest milestone, as well as a lot of spending coming from Honor of Kings' homeland of China, it may be that they're making more headway than we appreciate. And it's certainly indicative of their popularity being quite widespread.
While I don't expect League to dethrone their competitors anytime soon, if Wild Rift's success is anything to go by, they're far from out of the running on mobile.
If you're looking to see where we've ranked the top MOBAs on mobile, then, lucky you. Because we've already got our own list of the best MOBA games for Android that you can sink your teeth into right now!
