The League of Legends MMO "reset" earlier this year, but Riot Games' co-founder says it only "dramatically increased the likelihood of success"

League of Legends
(Image credit: Riot Games)

The League of Legends MMO "reset" Riot Games unexpectedly revealed earlier this year has certainly had an impact on the mysterious title's production, but it hasn't been a negative one - in fact, it has apparently "dramatically increased the likelihood of success."

Speaking in a recent interview with Gizmodo, Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill explains why the reset marked a positive turn for the new MMO. "The reset has dramatically increased the likelihood of success," says Merrill. "I fundamentally believe in the Ed Catmull [quote] where he said, 'You can give a great idea to a mediocre team, and they'll make it mediocre. You can give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they'll make it great.'"

He continues: "We must ensure we have great teams with great vision, perspective, and direction. And if that's not true, then our ability to make something worthy of the high expectations of our audience is pretty much zero. There's so much content in the world: social media content, incredible stuff all over streaming, tons of games available, and much of the world doesn’t need more mediocre stuff. It needs great things."

According to the lead, these are what Riot "needs to be focused on making" now. "That starts with people and team, direction and alignment around that particular strategy, and what must be true to deliver that. We're in the [fortunate] position because of the incredible games that we've created so far, this massive community that we have, and this incredible IP that we've been investing in building for 18 years, people want to run around the world of Runeterra."

Merrill goes on: "We do, too. We take the responsibility very seriously to deliver something great and worthy of our expectations - and everything happening, including that pivot and direction and reset, is oriented to be able to try to deliver on their expectations." The reset being a good thing for Riot isn't all that surprising, though. After all, just last month Merrill also revealed the MMO has "a lot of momentum" and "a great direction" despite resetting.

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Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.