League of Legends is obviously one of the biggest hit video games today and reports indicated that Riot Games is about to get $1 billion in revenue for 2014 alone.
According to a New York Times report, League of Legends is about to hit $1 billion revenue this year and it stemmed from the effective market strategy of Riot Games - treating their players' gaming experience as their top priority over potential revenue.
SuperData, a market research firm, revealed that there are more than 67 million active LoL users every month worldwide. And in August, players reportedly spent around $122 million.
According to SuperData chief Joost Van Dreunen, the numbers are clear proof of how Riot Games' strategy is working wonders for them despite the fact that the online video game is considered as a complex one because of the constant patches and additions.
"Whenever I talk to executives at Riot, it's like a mantra: Revenue is second, the players experience is first. The paradox is that by putting revenue second, League will be one of the very few games to bring in $1 billion in 2014," Van Dreunen said.
Riot Games has been arranging world tournaments like the one that happened at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last year. While most people think that the developers are earning money from the tournaments, they are actually losing revenue, but they don't care because it is one of their ways to market their game.
"People told us when we started that if you don't charge up front, or if you're not selling extra power or stats, it won't work," Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill said. "But that fails to account for the coolness factor. If you're really into cars, you don't mind spending $50,000 to soup up your Honda. That's the player we're tapping into."
League of Legends is expected to make headlines this month again as the fourth world championship approaches. This year's Summoner's Cup will be held on Oct. 19 in Seoul, South Korea where more than 40,000 fans are expected to grace the event that will take place at a stadium that was built for FIFA World Cup.
The 2013 championships reportedly drew more than 32 million audiences worldwide, which is expected to be broken this year based on the rapid growth of number of users.
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