Riot Games made a ton of new announcements earlier today in celebration of the upcoming ten-year anniversary of League of Legends. Suffice to say, the ‘s’ in Riot Games will finally make more sense in the near future.
The California-based developer was heavily rumored to be working on multiple projects in the past few years; to the point that speculations drove fans to pick only one from the lot. It turns out that all of those rumors were mostly true. Riot Games actually went through with not one but multiple projects, as well as tools and updates that all revolve around the League of Legends universe.
Interestingly, despite how the community perceived, Riot Games began searching for new avenues to expand in as far back as 2010. The journey was slow and long but Riot Games presumedly wanted to evolve League of Legends to a state where a potential market for secondary projects could be established. That time has finally come. Strap in because there’s a lot to talk about.
New Champion, Preseason Changes, Ports
Starting with the game that made it possible. The next champion heading to League of Legends is indeed Senna, the wife of Lucian. She has somehow freed her soul from Thresh and will be arriving (with a vengeance) as the first-ever support character that plays like a marksman.
In the coming preseason, Summoner’s Rift is set to receive new gameplay changes called Rise of the Elements. The Elemental Drakes will now impact the environment, removing terrain and obstacles for faster pathing for example. The changes will land on the Public Beta Environment on October 22 with a full rollout planned for November 20.
League of Legends is also coming to both consoles and mobile devices. However, Riot Games isn’t calling them ports. They are rather reworks that optimize League of Legends to best work on other platforms. It’s called Wild Rift and will release sometime in 2020. In addition, Teamfight Tactics is also coming to mobile devices in early 2020 with cross-play support for PC.
Finally, as part of the ten-year anniversary celebration, players can unlock gifts for ten days straight by simply logging in. The gift-giving begins on October 17 for both returning and current players.
Collectible Card Game
Legends of Runeterra is a free to play collectible card game, featuring characters and content from the the League of Legends universe. Unlike other digital card games on the market, or at least the most popular ones, Legends of Runeterra will allow players to obtain cards in numerous ways.
Instead of relying on randomized card packs, players will have the option of purchasing the cards they want directly. Microtransactions will obviously form a core basis but looking at the current progression system of League of Legends, Riot Games is likely to have some thing similar for Legends of Runeterra to make life easier for players.
Legends of Runeterra will release sometime in 2020 for both PC and mobile devices. Riot Games didn’t mention the collectible card game to be arriving on consoles, which could possibly take place down the road.
Fighting Game
The unannounced fighting game that was slipped during the Evolution Championship Series a few months back is now official. Set in the League of Legends universe, players will be choosing from the same roster of familiar characters but with a whole batch of fighting moves.
Riot Games hasn’t decided on a name yet and will continue to refer to it as Project L. While still in early production, scraps of details will be dropped next year. Don’t expect a release anytime soon though.
Role-Playing Game
Fans have been requesting Riot Games for a massively multiplayer online take on League of Legends for years. Think World of Warcraft but reimagined as World of Runeterra. Riot Games looks to be doing just that. Project F — unnamed for now — goes for an isometric perspective with hack-and-slash elements. There’s no word on whether players will be able to choose characters or classes but they will be leveling up to unlock powerful abilities. Project F, like the rest of the projects, remains in early production and without a release date.
Shooting Game
There’s also a character-based first-person shooter in the pipelines, dubbed Project A by Riot Games. Unlike the previous projects, this one moves away from the League of Legends universe and instead takes place on Earth. That being said, some of the abilities showcased do look to be inspired from League of Legends. It’s always in early production and hence, remains without any release date. Riot Games wants Project A to have a competitive future, much like Overwatch.
Esports Manager
League of Legends Esports Manager allows players and fans to run their own esports organizations. The simulator will feature all of the professional players competing in a season, and provide unique moments where you must decide between strategies, pre-match bans and picks, and basically build the best possible League of Legends team ever. The game will also tap into the mainstream esports ecosystem, meaning that a revenue sharing program will send real profits directly to professional League of Legends organizations.
League of Legends Esports Manager will release first in China somewhere in 2020. The rest of the regions will get their turn afterwards.
Animated Series
League of Legends is about to be adapted into an animated series called Arcane. The first batch of episodes is slated to release somewhere in 2020. Riot Games hasn’t revealed any details but considering the extensive League of Legends lore, the developer will have a lot of content to play around with.
In addition, the animated series is being developed and produced internally by Riot Games, which makes a lot of sense since new champions in recent years have received stunning trailers.
2020 and beyond looks to be packed with excitement for Riot Games and the League of Legends community. While the developer won’t be dropping details about those unnamed projects anytime soon, having an official acknowledgement beats theorizing around rumors and speculations. In the meantime, the League of Legends World Championship continues on. Remember to catch the latest matches by heading to the official Twitch channel.
