Has DOTA 2 really outshone League of Legends? This has been the biggest debate in PC gaming circles for the past few months. PC gamers have long argued as to which game is better with regards to gameplay, graphics and design. Let us take a closer look on these two games.

DOTA 2, a popular Valve online game, hit it big with PC gamers in 2013 with a reported $80 million micro-transaction income. It was ranked 13th as far as generated income is concerned in the virtual goods selling category for 2013. This report was released by SuperData Research, an industry intelligence firm.

DOTA 2 had over 500,000 players last year, making it the most frequent game on Stream. By comparison, Team Fortress 2, another popular Valve online, game got only 50,000-60,000 simultaneous gamers. Although there is a big difference in the number of players, Team Fortress 2 gained more income than DOTA 2. According to SuperData, it earned a total of $139 million in microtransaction sales in 2013, which is $50 million higher than DOTA 2 earned.

The research by SuperData showed that DOTA 2 is still way behind League of Legends even if it is performing well. In 2013, League of Legends by Riot Games earned more than $624 million in microtransaction sales.

However, SuperData foresees an increase in revenue for DOTA 2 for 2014. Joost van Dreunen, SuperData analyst, said that the success of DOTA 2 is expected to carry on this year. DOTA 2 was able to triple its monthly income in 2013 and should be capable of duplicating its monthly income in the last quarter of 2014.

Players of both games can buy skins or cosmetic items to create a different look for their characters. Players can also purchase characters in League of Legends so there is no need for them to grind their characters.

In 2013, League of Legends was second in 2013's highest earning PC online game data with DOTA 2 in rank thirteen. Therefore, League of Legends has beaten DOTA 2 as far as 2013's sales were concerned.

Based on this ranking, League of Legends has earned over $500 million more in 2013 than DOTA 2, making it arguably the more popular of the two franchises.