Riot Games hasn’t said much about its upcoming League of Legends MMO since announcing it in 2020. Co-chairman Marc Merrill confirmed on Wednesday that the game is still in development. However, Riot restarted the project “some time ago,” and the studio won’t have anything to share for “likely several years.”
It will be a long time before fans hear from the League of Legends MMO
Merrill laid out the situation in a lengthy Twitter thread. “We know many of you are hungry for news about the Riot Games MMO project,” he began, “and we really appreciate your patience and the incredible support you’ve shown us so far. I’m writing to update you today on where we’re at. And before anyone panics: yes, we are still working on the game.” However, he went on to say, “After a lot of reflection and discussion, we’ve decided to reset the direction of the project some time ago.”
The Riot Games executive explained that this was necessary because the League of Legends MMO was too similar to existing games. “We don’t believe you all want an MMO that you’ve played before with a Runeterra coat of paint,” he said. To do the setting justice, the studio felt it needed to make something representing “a significant evolution of the genre.”
To help with that, Merrill announced that Fabrice Condominas is taking over as the League of Legends MMO’s new Executive Producer. Condominas previously worked at BioWare and later EA, where he was the lead producer of Star Wars: Squadrons.
Unfortunately, the development reset also means that Riot Games is “going dark” regarding the MMO’s development. Merrill says fans likely won’t hear anything for several years as the company focuses on the work ahead. However, he says fans shouldn’t interpret that silence as signifying a problem. “Remember, ‘no news is good news,’ as it means we’re hard at work, pouring our hearts and souls into making something that we hope you’ll love.”
