Back in March, Riot Games decided that its in-development and unnamed MMORPG would need to reset its design direction and go radio silent for “likely several years.” This news combined with the departure of Greg Street last year, a layoff of over 500 workers, and an admission from one of the studio’s top brass that projects wind up and wind down regularly has likely iced most fans’ expectations of the game ever seeing the light of day.
However, a statement by Riot co-founder and chief product officer Marc Merrill during the League of Legends Worlds final has reignited a spark of hope, as he said that development is indeed still ongoing. Here’s his statement in full:
“We’re working hard on it, and it’s the project I spend personally the most amount of time on, but I really think the team has a great direction now and is making a lot of momentum and, y’know, it’s something where we know the expectations that we have and we’re going to really try not to disappoint.”
Obviously it still sounds like the game is in its earliest gestation period (again), but there are moves that suggest the MMO isn’t being taken behind the shed, such as the hiring of Orlando Salvatore as chief engineer for the game, a former Blizzard dev who is largely credited for things like WoW’s Pandaria Remix and Plunderstorm.
All the same, we would suggest not holding your breath if you are excited for the prospect of Riot entering our sphere of gaming; don’t necessarily give up, but temper your expectations because it sounds like this will still take a long time to come together.
