The decade is quickly coming to a close and there are plenty of great games to look back on as some of the most memorable titles of all time. Two games that made TIME Magazine’s best video games of the decade—and will probably make lists across the internet—were Riot Games’ League of Legends and Epic Games’ Fortnite.
Over the past 10 years, both of these titles have become more than just a game. They’ve become global phenomena that have slowly defined the culture of the 2010s and helped launch esports into the worldwide spotlight.
The competitive League scene, for example, has gone from being hosted at DreamHack in Sweden with a $100,000 prize pool to selling out Madison Square Garden, commanding over 500,000 viewers during Worlds finals, and becoming a multi-million dollar industry.
Teams are recognized around the globe and multiple traditional sports teams have bought into the sustainability and popularity of the game. The sky is the limit for League and it feels like we’ve only scratched the surface of what this game could bring to the table, both in-game and out.
Fortnite has become a cultural craze known by people around the world. When Tyler “Ninja” Blevins went online to play some matches with critically-acclaimed artist Drake, people knew that this game was going to be the next big thing—and even that was an understatement.
Now, Fortnite is boasting multi-million dollar prize pools and hundreds of thousands of viewers online. This game is almost a household name in many countries and it’s surging forward with new content for 2020 and beyond.
