League of Legends: Once again Fandom 250 snubs LoL

For the second year in a row the Fandom 250 ranking omitted the biggest esports title in the world, League of Legends.

I am shocked and chagrined, mortified and stupefied to report that, for the second consecutive year, FanSided’s Fandom 250 ranking of the top 250 fan bases in the world of sports and entertainment does not include League of Legends. That’s right, just like last year, League of Legends somehow, inexplicably, did not qualify as one of the top 250 ranked fandoms behind such “luminaries” as Alcorn State, Shea Serrano, the movie Cats, and the television show Schitt’s Creek.

But not to worry if you think FanSided had a vendetta against gaming. Nine gaming fandoms did make the top 250, with the highest-rated gaming fandom – Minecraft – peaking at number 37.

Now, I’m not here to say that League of Legends should absolutely be rated higher than Minecraft. After all, it became the best- selling video game of all time this year, which League cannot possibly compete with considering it’s sold zero copies in its existence. And Minecraft has a staggering 11 million followers on its Facebook page while League of Legends has only…14 million followers.

Well, I mean, it’s not as though League of Legends had anything particularly interesting happen this year that would be news-worthy. Sure, there was a World Championship that was the most-watched esports event of all time but that doesn’t mean anything. Fandom 250 is about moments that permeate pop culture.

Like having a virtual group grace the top of the Billboard charts, introducing a new game mode that dominated Twitch on release, announcing a new Netflix show, a 10-year anniversary where they announced a ton of new games, and celebrities participating in their biggest events. If League of Legends had any of that stuff happening maybe they could crack the top 250.

It is patently ridiculous, to me, that people can say with a straight face that NBA2k, the Legend of Zelda, and Dungeons & Dragons had more of an impact on the world of gaming than League of Legends did. It’s just flat-out not true.

League of Legends is the most-played game on the planet, it has the biggest esports scene on the planet, and Riot is poised to take over the gaming world in the coming year. This was a massive year for League of Legends, so getting snubbed from the FanSided 250 is completely ridiculous.