Fans of Riot Games and League of Legends are eagerly awaiting the promised MMO implementation, but it will be a long time coming. Reason: In the meantime, the project was turned upside down and essentially restarted.
Riot Games has been working on an MMO in the universe of the successful MOBA title League of Legends for a long time. The project had been quiet for a long time in the past and there was sometimes speculation as to whether it would even be finally implemented and the game would actually appear. Now there is finally an official update from the makers.
The positive news first: you don’t have to worry about the MMO being discontinued in the world of Runeterra at the moment. According to Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill, the project, which was originally hinted at for the first time in 2019, is still actively in progress. However, this – and this is the other side of the coin – will take a long time to come.
According to Merrill, development work was restarted some time ago and the game was refocused – more than four years after the online game was originally announced. In a multi-part statement on the social media platform The original vision for the game simply wasn’t different enough from games you can already play today. However, an MMO in Runeterra and the world of League of Legends must meet the high expectations and represent a “significant evolution” for the genre – and that is why the realignment has become necessary.
After a lot of reflection and discussion, we’ve decided to reset the direction of the project some time ago. This decision wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. The initial vision just wasn’t different enough from what you can play today.
We don’t believe you all want an MMO that…
— Tryndamere (@MarcMerrill) March 20, 2024
Merrill did not give a rough release period for the League of Legends MMO in this context, but emphasized that the development team will initially withdraw and no longer talk about the MMO. Tangible details and news are not expected for the time being – and a publication is probably still several years away.
Meanwhile, work on the game has been placed in new, leading hands. After ex-Blizzard designer Greg Street resigned from Riot Games in March 2023, Fabrice Condominas, who previously worked at EA and BioWare, has now taken over as executive producer of the game. This is also basically a good thing for Riot Games, because Condominas has already produced a real blockbuster with Mass Effect 3.
