This case study focuses on discussing reasons how League of Legends can sustain in the market with a comparatively long duration in Taiwan. It was the most popular PC game in Taiwan and the game had a record: 1 out of 7 Taiwanese game players at the peak time. This thesis looks at the introduction of the game industry and the history of the League of Legends in order to illustrate the environment when the game was born. Since the marketing cost is extremely high during the launch time, finding a product that can survive in a long term is essential for the game operator. The discussions are focused on the unusual strategy the operator in Taiwan, Garena, deployed and the competitive characters of the game. Two research methods were applied for this case study: An online survey for the players and an interview with the game operator in Taiwan. By cross checking the stories from both the customers’ and the operator’s side, three attributes have been identified in the study: (1) knowing the market preference: a successful game in one market might fail in the other. It is important to appreciate the taste of the target market or to modify the game with the market favor; (2) maximize the user engagement: the longer the user spend their time for the game, the less time they can be distracted from other competitors; (3) build a community and identify with it: if there are friends to hang out in the game, the possibility that the player wants to leave the game will be lower.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 1
1.1. Aim and objective 1
1.2. Process and outline 2
1.3. Overview of the global video game market 2
1.4. The video game market in Asia and Taiwan 5
1.5. Characteristics of League of Legends 8
1.5.1. Background and statistics 9
1.5.2. League of Legends in Taiwan 12
1.5.3. The operations company and publisher - Garena Taiwan 12
1.5.4. Insights on product operations 14
1.5.5. Insights on product marketing 15
2. Methodology 18
2.1. Online survey among players 18
2.2. Interview with the product manager 19
3. Result 20
3.1. Characteristics of the survey 20
3.2. Analysis of the survey 23
3.2.1. Why players join the game 23
3.2.2. Why players leave the game 26
3.3. Analysis of the interview 28
4. Discussion 30
4.1. How Garena kept the players in League of Legends 30
4.1.1. Deliver the promise 30
4.1.2. Provide a personal touch 32
4.1.3. Solve a Problem 32
4.1.4. Go the extra mile 33
4.2. How Garena generated revenue from the players in League of Legends 33
4.2.1. The benevolent company 34
4.2.2. There is nothing more expensive than something free 34
4.2.3. Platform economics 35
4.3. Why the game was and still is so popular in Taiwan 35
4.4. Evaluation of user habits in games 37
5. Conclusion 38
5.1. Maximizing user engagement 38
5.2. Knowledge of the market preference 39
5.3. Building a robust community 40
6. References 42

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