Riot Games Co-Founder Clarifies When to Expect League of Legends MMO: ‘Hopefully Before We Go to Mars’

Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill told Game File in an interview about the approximate release dates of the promising MMO in the League of Legends universe, which was confirmed back in 2020.

Image source: Riot Games

Recall that the last time we heard about the project was last spring, when the same Merrill said that the team made the “difficult decision” to restart development in a different direction.

Speaking to Game File, Merrill reiterated Riot’s unwavering commitment to making an MMO and jokingly outlined a release timeline: “Hopefully before we go to Mars.”

In other words, Riot has about three years. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk plans to send the first crewed spacecraft to Mars in 2028 (if unmanned flights in 2026 are successful).

«”We’ve been investing in [the League of Legends universe] for a long time, expanding and deepening that world. People want to run through Runeterra, and we want to help them do that, but in a way that makes sense and is valuable to them,” Merrill said.

The executive acknowledged that MMO development comes with a lot of challenges, but said, “I think Riot is the kind of company that should be looking to do these things if we want to make the best possible experience for players.”

Merrill says he spends more time working on the MMO than on any other Riot project. The studio continues to hire talent, with a former World of Warcraft lead engineer joining the team in November.