Popular Russian Dota 2 Streamer Expresses Surprise at Global Popularity of League of Legends

Aleksandr “Nix” Levin is one of the most popular Russian Dota 2 streamers and a former Dota 2 professional player who last played for Hell Raisers. During a recent vlog by BetBoom Team that featured the Russian streamer, Nix expressed his surprise over League of Legends’ popularity.

He noted how although he had never played the game, he discovered the popularity of League of Legends during a bootcamp when he was playing for his former team, M19. He also talked about how League of Legends is not well known in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries due to Dota being a staple in cyber cafes and not League of Legends.

Nix Reminisces About The Time he Found out About League’s Popularity

In a recent YouTube vlog from BetBoom Team titled “HAZARDS ON WHEELS #3 – NIX l First time in Dubai, Favorite Games and Top Movies.” Russian streamer Nix disclosed how he first found out about League of Legends and its popularity. 

Sharing his experience, Nix explained that during his time with M19, he encountered a League of Legends (LoL) team in a boot camp that had secured a remarkable top-eight position at the World Championship. Nix disclosed that it was during this time he first saw League of Legends, he said “I started to find out from them what kind of game it was. I had heard about it somewhere, but I hadn’t even seen it.”

Nix then highlighted that he was told about a European League of Legends player who was popular as a rock star, drawing parallels to the lead singer of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain. 

Nix admitted that he was unfamiliar with LoL, having never encountered it in cyber cafes or among his circle of friends. Unlike Dota, which he likened to a staple in cyber cafes with widespread player engagement, LoL seemed to have flown under his radar entirely.

Nix also said, “Dota lives only in the CIS. Before, there was China, where ‘Dota’ was super popular, but LoL is now much more popular.” pointing out the widespread popularity of League of Legends even over regions that were once dominated by Dota 2.

According to escharts.com, League of Legends has the highest peak viewership amongst all other esports titles. Peaking at a staggering 6,402,760 on 19th November 2023. While Dota is ranked sixth with a peak viewership of 2,741,514 on 21st October 2021.