While not too many details about the new mode have been revealed, we do know that it will feature co-op multiplayer where players can team up to fight against hordes of enemies. There is currently no announced release date for the new mode, and the studio has only revealed a single screenshot from an early build.

“After months of work, it’s time to let you all know that we are currently working on our first bullet heaven survivor PvE game mode,” said developer Selina Liu in the video. The new mode, she said, will be “a little different take on League’s core gameplay, but a bit more chill compared to Arena.”

While it continues to update League of Legends, Riot Games is also working on projects adjacent to the popular MOBA, including an MMORPG—the team behind which is “going dark” after recently resetting development—and fighting game 2XKO, which will feature characters from League of Legends in its roster.

Merrill revealed in the thread that development of the untitled MMORPG was reset some time ago, since the game was essentially forming up to be like other MMORPGs in the market, just with a League of Legends/Legends of Runeterra flavour to it.

“After a lot of reflection and discussion, we’ve decided to reset the direction of the project some time ago,” wrote Merrill. “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 you’ve played before with a Runeterra coat of paint; to truly do justice to the potential of Runeterra and to meet the incredibly high expectations of players around the world, we need to do something that truly feels like a significant evolution of the genre.”

Merrill went on to reveal that Fabrice Condominas is now working as the new executive producer on the MMORPG. He cited Condominas’ experience in working on major projects with BioWare, EA, and Riot itself. Owing to development of the game having been rebooted, Merril has also stated that the team will be “going dark” for a long time. According to Merrill, this will allow the team the space it needs to focus on the project.

“Resetting our development path also means we will be ‘going dark’ for a long time—likely several years,” said Merrill. “This silence will help provide space for the team to focus on the incredible amount of work ahead of them. We understand the excitement and anticipation that surrounds new information, but we ask for your trust during this silent phase.”

“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.”

The MMORPG based on League of Legends has been quite a major project for Riot Games since its announcement back in 2020. Currently, the MMORPG doesn’t even have a name, let alone a release window. We do know that it will likely be released on PC, however.

Riot, which was hit with mass layoffs earlier in the year, is also currently working on a fighting game based on League of Legends, which was revealed to be titled 2XKO back in February. The fighting game is targeting a 2025 release for PC and consoles.

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

We started laying the groundwork for this pivot some time ago and over the last year under Vijay Thakkar’s management, we built key components of the technical foundation to create the kind of ambitious game we’re talking about. We’re grateful for Vijay’s leadership and that…

— Tryndamere (@MarcMerrill) March 20, 2024

Thank you for believing in us and for your patience. We’re incredibly committed to this mission and we look forward to the adventure ahead and the stories we'll tell together.

— Tryndamere (@MarcMerrill) March 20, 2024

“Today, I’m sharing a decision we hoped we would never have to make at Riot,” said Jadeja in the announcement. “We’re changing some of the bets we’ve made and shifting how we work across the company to create focus and move us toward a more sustainable future. This decision means we’re eliminating about 530 roles globally, which represents around 11% of our workforce, with the biggest impact to teams outside of core development. This also sadly means we’ll be saying goodbye to many talented colleagues and friends across all areas of Riot.”

As part of the announcement, Jadeja explains that the company has had to take these drastic measures because some of the bets it took with “significant” investments haven’t been paying off as well as they were expected to, leading to the company’s general costs growing to an “unsustainable” point.

“Since 2019, we’ve made a number of big bets across the company with the goal of making it better to be a player,” he said. “We jumped headfirst into creating new experiences and broadening our portfolio, and grew quickly as we became a multi-game, multi-experience company — expanding our global footprint, changing our operating model, bringing in new talent to match our ambitions, and ultimately doubling the size of Riot in just a few years.”

“Today, we’re a company without a sharp enough focus, and simply put, we have too many things underway. Some of the significant investments we’ve made aren’t paying off the way we expected them to. Our costs have grown to the point where they’re unsustainable, and we’ve left ourselves with no room for experimentation or failure – which is vital to a creative company like ours. All of this puts the core of our business at risk.”

Layoffs throughout Riot Games have already started, and are expected to be completed over the coming weeks. As part of the layoffs, Riot Games is giving its ex-employees six months of salary minimum, along with cash bonuses, and support. The company is also telling its staff to cancel upcoming meetings and to work from home to help process the layoffs.

Along with these layoffs, Riot Games is also killing its Riot Forge label. Riot Forge was responsible for the release of several single-player titles set in the League of Legends universe, and the upcoming Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story will be the label’s final release.

Despite the layoffs, Riot Games has revealed that its other major titles—League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics and League of Legends: Wild Rift—are set to be “more ambitious than ever”. Content for Legends of Runeterra, however, is expected to slow down, as its team will be affected by downsizing.

As per a new post on X (Twitter), the developers confirmed that Arcane is now part of the mainline League of Legends canon, and the two are no longer set in different continuities. The same tweet also highlights some information on upcoming champions and changes to Skarner.

There are plenty of contradictions between Arcane and League of Legends pre-established lore, and the developers have stated that making it all work together will be a gradual process as opposed to a flip of a switch. While there aren’t going to be any major retcons or changes to the established champions, there might be new storylines or explanations added to the lore to make it all more cohesive.  

https://twitter.com/LeagueOfLegends/status/1712525344102821991

The attack, which took place last week, was confirmed by Riot Games after an analysis over the weekend. The studio has revealed that it has received a ransom email from the attackers, but has stated that it will not be paying. Riot also assures players that no player data or personal information was compromised in the attack.

The source code stolen by the attackers, according to Riot, includes a number of experimental new features that were being designed for the games. These new features, slated to be new game modes and other changes, were in the prototype stage, and Riot has stated that there was never any guarantee of these features being released.

“Our security teams and globally recognized external consultants continue to evaluate the attack and audit our systems,” Riot said on Twitter. “We’ve also notified law enforcement and are in active cooperation with them as they investigate the attack and the group behind it.”

Today, we received a ransom email. Needless to say, we won’t pay.

While this attack disrupted our build environment and could cause issues in the future, most importantly we remain confident that no player data or player personal information was compromised.

2/7

— Riot Games (@riotgames) January 24, 2023

“Last time I shared that we’ve honed in on our gameplay as an assist-based fighter with two champs per team. We’re finishing up our work on core mechanics now, and a lot of the team has moved on to building champions or building around game features like competitive play and our social systems.

“One of our goals is to remove as many barriers as possible from you enjoying Project L. We want you to be able to play no matter where you live, what your skill level is, or how much money you have to spend on a game. To that, I’m happy to confirm that Project L will be free-to-play. If you’ve played a Riot game before, this probably won’t come as a surprise.

“Our team is made up of fighting game veterans and folks who are passionate about serving the fighting game community. And we operate with one approach; if we wouldn’t like it, we won’t do it. When it comes to monetization, we promise to be respectful of both your time and your wallet,” said Cannon.

Riot also confirmed a new playable character – Kraken Priestess Illaoi, a powerhouse who fights with the deity Nagakabouros. Her style is focused on heavy semi-short hits and heavy long hits while also staggering opponents with tentacle hits. Though the tentacles are controlled via a totem, Illaoi can’t relentlessly spam them.

As such, she’s not a zoner but a fighter who excels at generating openings, then jumping and laying on the hurt. For more details on Illaoi and her design, check out the blog post here.

Project L still doesn’t have a release date but it’s in “active development.” More updates on Illaoi, like her animation and visual effects to audio, will be revealed later. An update on the overall development is also slated to arrive before the year is out so stay tuned.

League of Legends is playable on PC and Game Pass members get access to all of the Champions (160 and counting) along with day-one access to each new Champion that releases. League of Legends: Wild Rift on mobile provides all +80 Champions unlocked for Game Pass subscribers along with day-one access to new Champions. Legends of Runeterra will be playable on PC and mobile with subscribers getting the Foundation Set.

In Teamfight Tactics, playable on PC and mobile, access to Tier One Little Legend avatars is unlocked for Game Pass subscribers. Finally, subscribers get all 18 Agents unlocked in Valorant on PC. Bonus experience on select titles can also be earned. Stay tuned for more details on release dates in the coming months.

Called Renata Glasc, she hails from Zaun, just like Zeri. However, Renata is a Chem-Baroness, and her abilities revolve around her status in the world of Runeterra. The new character was unveiled through a new champion trailer showcasing her gameplay kit in action against opponents in various lanes.

The upcoming champion is going to belong primarily to the support role if the abilities showcased in the trailer are anything to go by. In one scenario, Renata is shown to resurrect one of the champions for a while, where said champion deals damage to an opponent, which also heals up a revived ally completely if they can take down an opponent in that state. Similarly, Renata can shield allies and slow down opponents, and her ultimate sends the enemy team into a frenzy.

Renata is planned to be added with patch 12.4, which is scheduled to release on February 14. Riot Games have also revealed Renata’s ability kit through their official website. Clearly, she is shaping up to be a game-changing support character for League of Legends, at least if proper co-ordination is maintained between players.

Check out the new trailer introducing Renata for League of Legends down below.

As previously mentioned in the September 2021 roadmap by Riot Games, Zeri was meant to release at the end of 2021, tying up to an event, which seemed to be the Riot X Arcane event. Unfortunately, the release was delayed and pushed into 2022 along with an upcoming support character, which is yet to be revealed.

The upcoming champion for League of Legends will be a bot lane character of the AD Carry classification and her toolset looks pretty similar to existing champions in the roster, such as a dash, which seems to be pretty similar to the League of Legends champion Vayne, and the ability to jump over the wall, which is similar to the champion Talon.

Riot Games had a great year with the League of Legends universe, as the company revealed last year that the playerbase for the game reached a collective of 180 million active userbase.

Check the trailer for the upcoming League of Legends champion Zeri down below.

Riot Games has confirmed in a statement to PC Gamer that these figures are the collective sum of monthly active players League of Legends, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, and Fight for the Golden Spatula. The terminology implies active monthly users who have played at least one of the aforementioned games in the calendar month of October. If one user players two games, they’ll be counted as two users.

Riot explains: “Monthly active users (‘MAUs’) are defined as the number of players who accessed a game, and in this case, the calendar month of October. A player who accesses two of our games would be counted as two users.”

While Riot’s League of Legends games have been a massive success for a number of years, the total userbase is still surprisingly large for just a handful of games. With Riot continuing to update its games in a timely fashion, it seems that the publisher will keep its momentum going forward.

Thank you to our global community for helping Runeterra reach new heights! 180 million players in October and still growing! pic.twitter.com/7w9goYBeBM

— Riot Games (@riotgames) November 1, 2021