October 27, 2009. That was the day the world changed, though hardly anyone noticed at the time. Riot Games was just a scrappy startup in Los Angeles, and their "big project" looked like a cartoonish knock-off of a Warcraft III mod. Fast forward to 2026, and it’s basically the biggest game on the planet. But the league of legends release wasn't the polished, cinematic spectacle you see today at the World Championship.
It was kind of a mess.
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Honestly, the "Clash of Fates" subtitle—which they thankfully dropped—sounds like a generic mobile game from the App Store. When the servers finally blinked to life in late October, the game only had 40 champions. To put that in perspective, we’re pushing toward 170 now. The graphics? Muddy. The balance? Non-existent. If you think Yuumi or 200-years-of-design Aphelios are annoying, you clearly weren't around to see Twisted Fate's "Gate" ability as a basic skill with a global range.
The Rough Reality of the League of Legends Release
Most people assume Riot just hit a button and millions of players flooded in. Nope. It was a slow burn. Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, the co-founders, had to beg publishers to take them seriously. Most companies laughed at the idea of a "free-to-play" game. In the West, that model was associated with low-quality "freemium" garbage.
Publishers wanted a retail box. They wanted a $50 price tag. Riot said no.
They actually did end up releasing a physical "Collector’s Pack" in stores like Best Buy for about $30, but it was just a way to get some skins and a little bit of credit. It’s a relic now. Kevin VanOrd, a reviewer at GameSpot back then, famously gave the game a 6/10 at launch. He called the retail version an "inadvisable purchase." Imagine telling someone today that League of Legends—the game that fills stadiums—was once considered a "6 out of 10" experience.
The Original 17 and the Alpha Days
Before the official October launch, there was the "Alpha Week 2" in February 2009. This is where the real DNA of the game formed. Only 17 champions existed then. We’re talking about the classics: Alistar, Annie, Ashe, Fiddlesticks, Jax, Kayle, Master Yi, Morgana, Nunu, Ryze, Sion, Sivir, Soraka, Teemo, Tristana, Twisted Fate, and Warwick.
Some of these guys are barely recognizable now.
Sion used to be a weird zombie with an axe who scaled with Ability Power and looked like he belonged in a PS1 game. Ryze has been reworked so many times it's a running joke in the community. But back then, these 17 were the entire universe. By the time the league of legends release went public, Riot had scrambled to double that number to 40. They were desperate to show variety.
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Why the Launch Almost Failed
The technical side was... shaky. Let's be real. The client was built on Adobe AIR. If you know anything about software, you know that’s like building a skyscraper on a foundation of crackers.
Long queues.
Random crashes.
Bugs that would delete your masteries.
It was a nightmare.
IGN’s Steve Butts compared the launch state to CrimeCraft, which was a notorious flop from that same era. The community wasn't exactly welcoming, either. Because League inherited a lot of players from the original DotA: Allstars mod, the "notoriously hostile" toxicity was baked in from day one. You weren't just fighting the enemy team; you were fighting your own teammates' keyboards.
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The Success Nobody Expected
So how did it survive? Accessibility.
The original DotA was hard. It was clunky. You had to own Warcraft III. You had to download maps manually. Riot made it so you just clicked a button. You didn't have to "deny" your own minions (hitting your own troops to stop the enemy from getting gold). You could "Recall" back to base for free. These small changes made the game feel like a playground instead of a lecture.
By 2011, things started to explode. Riot reported they were seeing 1.4 million daily players. They hit 100,000 players within just two months of the league of legends release, and it never really stopped growing. By the time the Season 1 Championship happened at DreamHack in Sweden, over 1.6 million people tuned in. That was the moment everyone realized this wasn't just a mod. It was a sport.
What You Should Do Now
If you're a newer player or someone looking to understand the history of the game, looking back at the 2009 launch provides some serious perspective. The game didn't succeed because it was perfect. It succeeded because the developers actually listened to the players.
Here is how you can tap into that "OG" knowledge today:
- Check the VGU history: Look up the "Visual and Gameplay Updates" for champions like Warwick or Sion. Seeing where they started compared to where they are now helps you understand Riot’s design philosophy.
- Study the "Old School" Meta: Early League didn't have the rigid "one top, one mid, two bot, one jungle" structure. People played whatever, wherever. Experimenting with non-meta lanes in "Quickplay" can actually help you find creative ways to win today.
- Respect the "Broken" History: When you feel like a new champion is "overpowered," remember that Jax used to be able to dodge tower shots and Twisted Fate could teleport across the entire map at level 1. It makes the current balance feel a lot more reasonable.
The league of legends release was a gamble that changed the industry. It proved that you don't need a $60 box to make a billion dollars, and it showed that a game can be a living, breathing service that evolves every two weeks for nearly two decades. Whether you love it or hate it, the gaming landscape would be unrecognizable without that weird, buggy launch in 2009.
The most important takeaway? Every legend starts somewhere, and usually, it's in a cramped office with a client that barely works and 40 champions that aren't quite finished yet.