Riot Video games have confirmed that they’re giving League of Legends a large overhaul, placing most of LoL’s growth crew on the undertaking with the aim of releasing League Subsequent in 2027.
It’s no secret that League of Legends is, in some methods, extremely outdated. The consumer is sluggish, clumsy, and vulnerable to crashing. Graphically, LoL is missing compared to different reside service titles, and there’s solely a lot that may be completed to create new and attractive cosmetics.
Moreover, matches are lengthy in a world with shortening consideration spans. League of Legends stays the most important esport on the earth when it comes to viewership, nevertheless it gained’t preserve that crown free of charge.
So, Riot’s taking some initiative and attempting to drum up hype behind League of Legends to get a brand new technology of gamers in.
What’s Altering in League of Legends 2?
The best way League of Legends 2 was introduced is unorthodox to say the least. Bloomberg launched a report detailing the in-development pseudo-sequel, and Riot had a video ready that went reside about quarter-hour later, formally acknowledging its existence.
So, for the sake of readability, let’s go over what we all know for a truth is occurring with LoL.
First, they’re lastly placing the sport and the consumer on the identical engine, making them totally built-in with one another. This can permit them to flesh out the consumer and easy over a whole lot of the nasty bugs which have plagued LoL for over a decade at this level, and it’ll make the method of implementing modifications just like the current WASD management replace a lot simpler.
Moreover, they’re utterly altering Summoner’s Rift and including some new gameplay components to the principle aggressive mode. They’re additionally making some massive changes to the out-of-game programs like runes.
Maybe most vital for recreation well being is their goal to offer the brand new participant expertise some main upgrades, aiming to make the method of entering into League of Legends for the primary time simpler for the common participant.
Riot can be adamant that this replace isn’t a sequel, nevertheless it’s League of Legends 2 in an analogous vein to what Valve did with Counter-Strike 2 and what Blizzard did with Overwatch 2, so it’d be no shock to see the LoL 2 identify stick.
That moniker is a little more informative than “League Subsequent,” the interior codename that was leaked within the Bloomberg report that broke the information.
Lots of what they needed to say mirror’s Riot’s announcement, however there are two key components of the report that add some extra context on what this might imply for LoL going ahead.
First up is why Riot’s doing it: Cash.
“Whereas League of Legends has fared higher than some rivals within the slow-growing video-game enterprise, its participant base has dropped off, in accordance with the individuals Bloomberg Information spoke with. Valorant, one other Riot title, makes extra money,” their report claims.
This could possibly be because of a number of components. When a weapon pores and skin will get launched in Valorant, you may run it on any character you need. Contemplating LoL has 172 champions, there’s an excellent likelihood a pores and skin for an unpopular champion performs poorly, not due to the standard of the pores and skin, however as a result of 5% of your gamers are inquisitive about it in comparison with 100% for a Knife pores and skin in Valorant.
So, whether or not or not Riot can remedy LoL’s monetary woes could also be a deeper problem than simply updating the sport and bringing extra gamers again in.
Second, the interior construction of Riot’s dev crew has been totally reorganized. This was hinted at within the official video, however there will probably be considerably fewer individuals engaged on the core recreation of League of Legends in 2026. There’s an excellent likelihood that large content material updates will decelerate.
Regardless, Riot is clearly dedicated to maintaining League of Legends alive for years to come back.
