10 Old Video Games Kept Alive By Hardcore Fans

Riot Games' League of Legends was released all the way back in October 2009, was inspired chiefly by Defence of the Ancients and has gone onto become one of the biggest video games ever made.

The game revolves around players taking control of a hero and strategically battling it out against both CPU and player-controlled rivals in an attempt to destroy towers called Nexus before the other team. The game has been kept relevant by its explosive Esports scene, which has revolutionised the way in which competitive gaming has been seen by the outside.

The League of Legends World Championships grew in 2019 to boast 100 million unique viewers, with that number peaking at 44 concurrent visitors for the grand finals that year. It's no surprise that 2019 saw the number of active players for the game rise up to 8 million concurrent players logging each day, a record for the game since it was released. It's hard to imagine League having anywhere near the standing it has these days without its competitive core of players.

What has also helped the game stay alive for so long, besides its high skill ceiling and richly lucrative competitive scene, has been the vast array of comic books, merchandise, skins and the upcoming Netflix TV series that has helped keep its players engaged.