Over the past several years Riot Games has expanded its game offerings significantly. Following the success ofLeague of Legends, Riot has launched projects includingTeamfight Tactics,Legends of Runeterra,League of Legends: Wild Rift, andValorant. It also has several upcoming games, the most highly anticipated being aLeague of LegendsMMO. Riot’s executive producer for theLeague of LegendsMMO has a warning, though, saying there’s “no guarantee” that it’s going to ship.Before anyLeague of Legendsor MMO fans leap to conclusions, the message fromRiot’s Greg Streetwas more of a precautionary acknowledgment of how game development works — and particularly game development at Riot. Street is not saying that theLeague of LegendsMMO is in danger. Rather, he’s saying that theLeague of LegendsMMO will only be delivered if and when it’s done and meets all expectations. Riot has its work cut out for itself.RELATED:Former Cyberpunk, Witcher Dev Working on Riot Games MMOThe message from Street reads, “There is no guarantee this game will ship. We are optimistic, but you never know until it does.” He later reponds to a fan asking what could cause Riot tocancel the MMOby saying, “If it’s not good. If we think it will disappoint players. We don’t want to be a game that is hyped for 2 weeks and then fades from view.” Exactly what promoted Street to make these posts isn’t clear, but he did later clarify that it wasn’t because of any abnormal worry over the project’s status.
If there is an unwritten message in Street’s posts, it’s that making an MMO is very challenging. To start, they are incredibly expensive due to their size and the development resources necessary to get them not only to launch day, but beyond. MMOs like38 Studios’Project Copernicus, Blizzard’sTitan, andEverquest Nextnever saw the light of day. Then there are MMOs that launched but weren’t able to maintain an audience, likeWildStar,Warhammer Online,Marvel Heroes,The Matrix Online, and evenClub Penguin.
There’s also the fact that Riot holds itself to a very high standard when it comes to anything it releases. It was ten years afterLeague of Legendslaunched that it delivered its second game,Teamfight Tactics. It’s also very much taking its time before sharing any information on its previously announced but unreleased projects, including theProject Lfighting gameandProject FARPG.
TheLeague of LegendsMMOis likely currently in its riskiest development state, where Riot is still figuring out everything that the game will be, the resources it will require, and whether it can be fun and successful. Then it actually has to make that game. It’s only natural for developers like Street to worry about the challenges ahead. He, likeLeague of Legendsfans, seems excited for the project’s future.
