The two biggest games in the arena of competitive video games in Canada are League Of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The exact numbers are often disputed, but their monopoly or polypole position in terms of sales, the number of players, and competitive events is undeniable. But what’s the difference between the two games and why have League of Legends and Counter-Strike reached the ‘pole position’ of cybersports?
Game statistics
If you compare the numbers, League of Legends is clearly superior to the shooter. Around 64 million players log in there per month, while Counter-Strike: Global Offensive only has around ten million. By comparison, World of Warcraft, which is also well known in an environment less associated with cybersport, had around 5.5 million subscribers at the end of 2015, roughly the same number of players.
However, if you look at the relative number of cybersport viewers per player, CS: GO is way ahead. This is because League of Legends has far more casual players than its opponent. Overall, both games are clearly different, but there are also strong differences between League of Legends and Counter-Strike.
Betting on both games is very popular right now. Apart from League of Legends Vulkan Bet and other bookmakers in Canada accept bets on all types of cybersports.
Fanbase
The very first game series Counter-Strike, released in 2000, is nine years older than the MOBA League of Legends, released in 2009. Of the old-timers, Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike 1.6 may also be mentioned.
For this reason according to Vulkan CS GO has an older fan base, which also leads to a generally older player base, which is also evident in the professional scene.
What surprises LoL fans
Riot Games has long invested in the development of the eSports scene. In 2011 the first season of competitive games began and lasted until 2013. Then the prize fund amounted to $100,000, and the championship was watched by about 1.6 million spectators. The second season in 2014-2016 was already bigger in scope: the prize fund was $5 million, and the Warriors theme for the tournament was written by the pop-rock band Imagine Dragons.
League of Legends World Championship 2021 took place from October 5 to November 6, in Iceland. At every ceremony before the final stage Riot Games tried to surprise the audience with a giant dragon projection on the stadium, or a K-pop performance by artists with holograms of game characters.
This year, however, things went differently. Before the start of the competition, the audience was shown a 13-minute video, which looked more like a short film. CGI graphics in it were intertwined with real-life footage amidst constructed sets.
Throughout the timeline, snippets of the League of Legends animated series “Arcane”, which debuted later in early November, were glimpsed time and again. After the success of the animated series, everyone, even those unfamiliar with LoL, started talking about the fictional universe and franchise.