27 million gamers play League of Legends. Every. Single. Day.

Revealing the latest figures for the most played video game in the world, developer Riot Games confirmed that League of Legends boasts more than 27 million players each day, more than double the 12 million reported in October 2012. What's more, the number of concurrent players reached peaks of over 7.5 million, also up from the 5 million reported in March of last year.

Since its release in 2009, League of Legends has rapidly grown into the behemoth it is today. Part of that is due to its favorable business model in which the game and its characters are entirely free-to-play, with players only really having (again, if they want) to purchase unique character skins (costumes).

The other part of its success can be attributed to Riot Games focus on eSports with League of Legends. Over the past few years, the game has established itself as not just an eSport, but as a "real" sport even recognized by the United States government. In 2013, the League of Legends World Championship broke eSports viewing records and this year Riot is looking to take the game to new heights. With official teams and established game schedules, League of Legends finally resembles a sport that you'd watch on television (but with less commercials).

Season 4 of the League Championship Series (LCS) is just recently underway, but it'll definitely be fun to track the success. Something League of Legends definitely has going for it is that it's recognized and played around the world. This year, the LCS World Championship is being hosted in South Korea, a Mecca for eSports. With the player base and fan viewership growing on a yearly basis, there's no reason to believe League of Legends success will slow any time soon.

[WSJ]