Foreword: The 2026 Jiangsu Provincial City eSports League Nanjing Regional Regular Season is being held, and many eSports enthusiasts have signed up to participate, as the competition has no restrictions on professions or entry barriers, allowing ordinary players to form teams and compete for prizes. However, with the official announcement of the competition events, many eSports fans discovered that LOL, the veteran of the MOBA genre, was not included. Instead, the mobile game Honor of Kings represented MOBA. Many LOL players have mockingly joked that "LOL is completely dead."

In recent years, LOL's popularity has been declining, leading many LOL players to sarcastically say the game is dying. However, there are still many LOL viewers who believe that LOL remains the number one in the eSports field. After all, the annual LOL World Championship tops the eSports scene in both popularity and discussion. The victories of IG and EDG in previous world championships sparked nationwide celebrations. Many viewers are curious why the Jiangsu Super League chose not to host LOL matches but instead included FIFA 4, Naraka: Bladepoint, Overwatch, Identity V, and Honor of Kings.

Some viewers speculate that the organizers prioritized stability and convenience when selecting events. In recent years, Honor of Kings has become a national-level mobile game. With its massive player base, it is much easier to find participants compared to LOL, and its buzz and discussion topics are certainly higher. After all, LOL's main attention has been captured by the LPL and World Championships, leaving little interest for other types of competitions among LOL players. Moreover, Honor of Kings has lower device requirements, whereas LOL requires better network and hardware conditions for competitive play.

Conclusion

In my personal opinion, although LOL has been on a downward trend in recent years, this decline is only relative to its own past glory. Currently, LOL is still fairly popular. That said, do you think if the LPL wins the World Championship this year, LOL's popularity could rebound? After all, LOL's popularity has always been tied to its competitive results. The IG world championship victory back then helped boost the LPL's popularity for several consecutive years.