The 10th anniversary livestream for League of Legends revealed a slew of exciting news for fans of the genre-dominating MOBA. We found out about League of Legends: Wild Rift, a mobile and console version of the eSports phenomenon with a release time as early as 2020 for mobile. Now we're learning that Riot is developing a bunch of new games, including a shooting game, a fighting game, a card game called Runeterra, and an open-world game, the latter three taking place in the League of Legends universe.
Fighting game
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS FIGHTING GAME FOOTAGE pic.twitter.com/FrQiOhK5OlOctober 16, 2019
The League of Legends fighting game, codenamed Project L, was confirmed in August, but we didn't know anything about it aside from it being a fighting game developed by Riot. Tuesday's livestream confirmed the project would be set in the League of Legends universe. Aside from that small, yet revealing detail, we didn't learn anything new.
Shooting game
The shooting game, which isn't based on League of Legends, had a more revealing announcement. We got a generous amount of gameplay footage for an unnamed project still early in development, as well as plenty of key details. Project A is a competitive shooter taking place in a futuristic Earth where characters each have their own unique abilities.
Riot says Project A is being headed by a team of veteran developers and seeks to "evolve" the tactical shooter space with style, creativity, and improved technical fidelity. The latter point is emphasized in the announcement trailer, and Riot seems confident in their ability to fix many of the technical issues prevalent in the online shooter genre. It's not a stretch to say Project A looks like a direct shot at Blizzard's Overwatch, and it couldn't have come at a less advantageous time for Blizzard.
Card game
Surprisingly enough, the project we now know most about, and even the one that sounds most ambitious, is Legends of Runeterra, the free-to-play card battler taking aim squarely at Hearthstone. Runeterra will be crossplay-compatible and available on PC and mobile when it launches in 2020. Pre-registering is open now and gives you the chance to join the upcoming preview patch and closed beta in 2020. The FAQ page for Legends of Runeterra is expansive and detailed, even diving into the risky waters of paid transactions.
"Bottom line: In Legends of Runeterra, you will never pay for randomized packs, and you have a bunch of different ways to get the cards you actually want and build multiple decks for both casual duels and the competitive meta."
Open-world game
This one we don't know much about aside from the very brief footage we saw during the livestream. Internally at Riot, it's called Project F, and it looks suspiciously similar to yet another one of Blizzard's flagship IPs, Diablo. Otherwise, Riot says it's a "project that explores the possibilities of traversing the world of Runeterra with your friends."
Animated series
Finally, there's Arcane, the animated series based on the League of Legends universe announced alongside Riot's Tuesday barrage of new game announcements. The project is being developed and produced internally at Riot, and is expected some time in 2020. Like most reveals today, details are scarce. At least here, we have this beautiful trailer to glean details from.
As if this isn't enough proof of Riot's ambition, check out this actually real collaboration between League of Legends and French fashion house Louis Vuitton.
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