A discussion about the gender of champions broke out on the League of Legends reddit. That happens all the time. Ryan Mireles, LoL’s Lead Gameplay Producer, chimed in on this discussion and revealed an interesting detail: Almost all female players use almost exclusively female champions.
What does the developer say? There was a discussion in the reddit thread as to why more female champions are currently coming into play. Of the last 10 champions, 8 were women. A new heroine, Bel’Veth, was released on June 9th.
Mireles explained that Riot Games aims to have around 50% male and 50% female champions in the game. However, since the proportion of male heroes is currently larger, the female ones simply appear more often at the moment:
A few years ago we looked at the diversity of our champion roster and it turned out that we had about 60% male champions and 40% female champions. We feel that having a 50/50 ratio between male and female champions is better in the long run. We’ll probably continue releases until we reach a 50/50 ratio.
via reddit
This statement was met with incomprehension by some users. They wondered why the relationship had to be balanced. But then Mireles explained how much of an impact champion gender actually has and why more female champions would actually be important.
By the way – LoL is coming to Xbox Game Pass soon:
Riot Games in Game Pass – Trailer
Male players use both genders roughly equally
What is the distribution among the players?
So, according to the developer, bringing a male champion is a complete let down for a lot of players:
We’re not letting half our player base down by developing more female champions. In fact, our data shows that female players primarily play female champions. In fact, about 97% of female players only play female champions. Male players are evenly split between male and female champions, so 50/50 choose between male and female champions.
When we bring a male champion, we let most of our female players down because most of our female players don’t use male champions at all.
via reddit
Appropriately, the developer also shows a World Cloud for a survey from 2017. The most popular champions of male players (left) and female players (right) are shown there.
What will the next champion be? In April, Riot Games introduced three new champions. One of them was Bel’Veth as a new jungler. Next up are an AD carry and a top plane.
More details can be found here:
LoL hints at the next 3 new champs – could all come in 2022
The gender and appearance of champions in League of Legends has been the subject of some debate. In the summer of 2021, for example, it was about the fact that most male champions always follow the same six-pack model.
However, many also want heroes that are not ideal of beauty, such as Gragas:
LoL teases new champion – players are disappointed with the same “sexy male model”