When thinking of massively popular online multiplayer games, titles like Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and World of Warcraft immediately come to mind. But it's another game - the often overlooked League of Legends - that's making headlines today.
In a recent feature on the game by Polygon, League of Legends developer and publisher Riot Games estimates that more than 100 million people are now playing each month. The last time Riot revealed numbers on the game (in January 2014), it had 67 million monthly players and 27 million people playing daily.
In the feature, Polygon notes that Riot co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill hate discussing numbers which is why they haven't provided updated figures for well over two years.
Riot Games was founded in 2006 and launched its only game in 2009. After selling a majority stake in the company to China's Tencent Holdings for a reported $231.5 million in early 2011, the firm gave up the rest of its equity late last year.
Much of the game's recent success can be linked to the rising popularity of eSports as well as video game streaming sites like Twitch and YouTube Gaming. It also helps that it's a free-to-play title which generates revenue via microtransactions.
If you're at all interested in the story of Riot Games and League of Legends, I'd highly recommend giving Polygon's lengthy piece a read.
Lead image via Lionel Bonaventure, Getty Images