Let's have a legitimate talk about "<x> is dying".

I see this thing thrown out all the time. Not just on League either. Hell, google any game and dying and you'll either bring up how not to die in the game or how the game is dying, everyone should jump ship. Rather, I think this is a good time to talk to people about it and try to spread some wholesome knowledge about a game dying.

#The Basics.

Much like humans, from the moment a game releases (sometimes even beforehand), a game starts dying. We'll label "dying" as the point where a game has less newcomers to replace those that quit and/or leave. Games can take steps to prolong their lives such as DLC or the new motto of "Games as a service" but the moment a game exists, it's going to start losing players.

Now, the incorrect assumption most people make is that the game is going to die to the point where everyone panics, profits go down the shitter and there's nothing left for new players. This is just false. Even the original counter-strike sees new players. They're just not common. A popular game will always have a playerbase. That said, not every playerbase is widespread. Street Fighter II still has old and new players but they're rarely getting huge influxes. More importantly, those that are still playing are older and a tighter-knit community.

#The Modern Game Death

These days, only a select few games earnestly die. A good example of this is Lawbreakers or Paragon: Games that have hit a point where nobody plays them anymore and the game itself shuts down. Sorry to burst gameplay's bubble but League isn't going to die. By extent, however, this is true of hundreds of games. People still think WoW is actually going to die. Blizzard themselves have said that even if the game has so few subs, they'll just make it free to play. Games like that aren't going anywhere.

The better term for what gameplay (and others) like to boast and doomsay about is "decay". Is league decaying? Absolutely. Is it only the balance? Well, no. The game is almost a decade old and arguably an extreme niche of a game genre. DOTA Classic never hit the insane popularity levels of League. Rather, Riot's business model was killer and adopted by almost every game in the industry. You can argue this if you want but skin-tiers, f2p mechanics and purchasing characters while offering the base game for free was both the common choice as well as improved upon by other games to remain competitive.

It's also worth noting that game love varies depending on the region. RTS and MOBA games have always leaned heavily to the Asian crowd of China, Korea, etc. EU and NA seem to prefer and excel at FPS and TPS (Third person) games. Not to say the fan demographic doesn't exist but it's much smaller in NA/EU sphere than in the KR/CHN space. Overwatch took off and, by extent, PUBG/Fortntie are taking off because these are games that lean more toward the NA/EU crowd, along with those games being on consoles which are infinitely more popular in NA/EU than KR/CHN.

But even then, I'm just using League as an example. Many people are already arguing Overwatch has plateau'd and the player influx isn't happening as it used to, meaning the game is decaying. You could also argue PUBG/Fortnite are locked in a battle right now for first place (Much as DOTA/League used to) and that these are eating the OW playerbase.

#End Notes

Games rarely die. Games mostly just whittle down to the core audience. The core audience, for example, could be a speedrun communtiy who will play Crash Team Racing until the day they die because it's their number one game of all time. So too is League beginning to whittle down to it's highest core playerbase. People who picked it up as a social game are either older now or moving onto something else. Argue those numbers as you wish. But is League dying? No. It's certainly going to be in the top percentage space and it's arguable that the esport scene may never "truly" die.

At the end of the day, enjoy your game whatever it is. Or don't. Just don't eagerly point at numbers and expect any game to turn into Lawbreakers 2.