League of Legends (often abbreviated as LoL) is a video game inspired by the Defense of the Ancients (DotA) map for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne[2] developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows.[3] It was first announced on October 7, 2008, and released on October 27, 2009.[4] The game was in a closed beta from April 10, 2009, to October 22, 2009.[5] It then transitioned to open beta until release.