Riot hits the development reset button for its League of Legends MMO: 'The initial vision just wasn’t different enough from what you can play today'

pcgamer.com:

Riot has «reset» the development of its League of Legends MMO, according to cofounder and CPO Marc Merrill. Posting on Twitter, Merrill confirmed that «yes, we're still working on the game,» but that the project has been set back to its early stages to pursue a new design direction. The decision was made «some time ago,» based on the studio's feeling that the in-development MMO, set in the League of Legends' Runeterra world, was too similar to its competitors. «The initial vision just wasn’t different enough from what you can play today,» Merrill said. «We don’t believe you all want an MMO that you’ve played before with a Runeterra coat of paint.»

Hey all — We know many of you are hungry for news about the @riotgames #MMO project, 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…March 20, 2024

The MMO's development is now being led by Fabrice Condominas, executive producer at Riot and previous production lead at BioWare and EA. Condominas, Merrill said, is replacing Technical Director Vijay Thakkar, who had been leading the MMO development team for the last year in building «key components of the technical foundation» for the game's new direction. Merrill also announced that Riot would be «going dark» about its production, and that it would likely be «several years» before the studio shares any details about the MMO. «This silence will help provide space for the team to focus on the incredible amount of work ahead of them,» Merrill said.

We first learned about the League MMO project in 2020 when Greg Street, at the time VP of IP and entertainment at Riot and former Lead Systems Designer on World of Warcraft, casually confirmed via tweet that he was working on an MMO set in the Runeterra universe. By March 2021, Riot was in the process of expanding its MMO development team, with a recruiting website saying «MMOs take a lot