PewDiePie says LoL wouldn't exist without Dota

Nicholas James Published 30/03/2023

Massive YouTuber Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg says League of Legends wouldn’t exist without Dota, and he’s right.

The huge content creator was on the Trash Taste podcast’s 124th episode hosted by fellow YouTubers Garnt “Gigguk” Maneetapho, Connor “CDawgVA” Colquhoun, and Joey “The Anime Man” Bizinger. During the episode, the four began to discuss the multiplayer online battle arena genre and their favorite versions of the wildly popular character-focused team games. During this discussion, PewDiePie made clear that he thought League of Legends wouldn’t exist without Defense of the Ancients, and he’s almost certainly right.

PewDiePie says League owes its existence to Dota

During the Trash Taste episode 124, PewDiePie made it clear in no uncertain terms exactly which of the two MOBA games he preferred. The conversation opened up with the hosts discussing Arcane, the animated League of Legends adaptation. PewDiePie says he still hasn’t watched the hit show, partially due to the sheer amount of recommendations it has received. “I couldn’t stand how many people told me to watch it” he said, “Shut up, I’m not watching it!” “Dota was the f—-ing s—- back in the day,” he continued. When CDawgVA disclosed he was a League of Legends player, PewDiePie stated that “[League of Legends] owes everything to Dota. League wouldn’t exist without Dota.”

While it may seem provocative, the Swedish YouTuber is right. Dota was the very first MOBA experience, created in the Warcraft 3 custom game editor. Riot Games founders Marc “Tryndamere” Merrill and Brandon “Ryze” Beck were both directly involved in Dota’s initial iteration and it inspired them to create Riot Games and League of Legends. There’s not much of an argument that he’s wrong, considering even the creators of League of Legends admit they were trying to find a way to make their own version of Dota when they created what is now the most popular video game in the world.

Nicholas James

About Nicholas James

Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.

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