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Call of Duty (CoD) and League of Legends (LoL) are games with the most toxic gaming communities, according to a new study.
CoD has the most toxic gaming community across all platforms overall, according to the survey, with 27.7% of gamers saying they’ve found its community to be the most toxic.
Meanwhile, 36.11% of gamers said League of Legends has the most toxic gaming community on PC.
The study surveyed 4,000 gamers – each logging at least six hours of playtime per week – and used social media monitoring tool, Meltwater, to analyse the online sentiment within each video game’s community. The data was commissioned and collected by casino.ca.
When analyzed by platform, CoD ranks as the most toxic community for PlayStation and Xbox users, while it ranks as the second most toxic community for PC gamers.
45% of gamers revealed they frequently encounter toxic behavior in the COD community, 47% occasionally, 6% always, and only 2% never.
Online, 48% of comments about the CoD community are negative, 32% are positive and 20% are neutral.
The news comes just ahead of the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (on October 25th 2024) and one week ahead of the League of Legends Worlds 2024 grand final in London’s O2 Arena (on November 2nd).
Full toxic gaming community survey breakdown
Methodology:
A spokesperson told Esports News UK: “The study used data collection tool Prolific, a platform geared towards collecting data sets. Researchers sign up to conduct market research, and users sign up to participate. They’re then paired to studies depending on their demographic data and personal interests.
“The client used a representative data sample.
“When creating the survey, they added the filter of those who game at least six hours a week, to ensure they’re researching the right people.
“They then used social media monitoring tool, Meltwater, to analyse the online sentiment.”
The data was shared with a select number of journalists including those at Esports News UK.
Related surveys:
- League of Legends players ranked smartest in IQ study
- Esports boosts cognition more than sports, finds study
- UK students gaming spend jumps 21% annually to £3.4 billion in 2024
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.
