Disclaimer:
Information could not be verified and is deemed speculative.
On August 14th, 2023, a private Riot MMO discussion was discovered by one of our Discord members from the Chinese community. AlonTFT came across a video with notable League of Legends Pro League caster Guan Zeyuan.
Want to know more about Guan Zeyuan?
Before You Begin:
Watch Guan Zeyuan Interview with Former Riot Games CEO
Table of Contents
What did Guan Zeyuan say?
In the video, Guan Zeyuan describes his conversation with a Riot Games executive regarding the in-development Riot MMORPG.
Guan begins by declaring the Riot MMO is indeed in production. What’s more interesting is his trip to the United States. He says he spoke with a Riot Games employee who is responsible for many (or all) of the games to some degree. A few example he mentioned were League of Legends and VALORANT. Some Riot MMO fans speculate Guan is referring to Nicolo Laurent.
Next, the League sports caster asked about the Riot MMO in all seriousness. Zeyuan adds that he did not sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and is therefore free to talk about his conversation.
He asks, “Tell me how to Riot MMORPG is doing?”. Guan Zeyuan says these were his exact words…
If I’m a game designer, I won’t put my career on the project
Is the Riot MMO in Trouble?
We believe the Riot MMO is not in trouble. It is likely the executive was referring to the long research and development phase of this Riot MMO project. Presumably, the game designer would be putting their career development on hold due to the non-disclosure agreement. And further compounded by an game that will not be published for many years.
In summary, for the executive’s perspective, to ‘put my career on the project’ likely refers to one putting their professional options on hold for several years.
This statement was echoed by a fellow Discord community member, Shambits, who has some experience in the game development industry.
As cool as it would be to work on Riot’s MMO it’s a career defining job because it’s gonna take so long to make. Whether it’s a success or not, you’re giving near a decade to a single product and that can be career limiting whether it’s a success or not.
Shambits Gaming
Riot MMO Art Progress
Once again, we hear from the executive the Riot MMO is in-development. ‘It’s still there.’
Interestingly, the Riot MMO executive says,
There is no art in it [Riot MMO] yet
Now, we find this contradictory based on the Necrit interview with the Riot MMO team. During the interview the project’s executive producer, Vijay Thakkar says,
It’s a big damn shame that you can’t see the stuff that’s he [Greg Faillace, Art Director] working on, cause it’s so good!
Vijay Thakkar
Granted the interview was uploaded in early July 2023 and likely filmed June 13th, 2023. Moreover, the executive is likely not hands-on in the project and could be out of touch when in comes to the details.
Our guess is that concept art has been developed at this point.
Wrapping Up: Riot MMO Discussion
Guan Zeyuan summarizes in his owns words with reaffirming the Riot MMO will eventually release, in his opinion. He also said, of course when its released and how it looks is anybody’s guess at this point.
Our key takeaways from this speculative conversation are:
Lastly, we want to make it clear this is not necessarily a recount of Guan’s conversation with Nicolo Laurent. Guan did not make any reference the executive was Nicolo Laurent. Nonetheless, it very well could have been.
Chinese Discord Member’s Interpretation
The following information is based on our Chinese Discord members and isn’t verifiable by theRiotMMO.
The title of the original video is:
Riot’s MMO is Still in the Process of “Making a New Folder”
Did you know:
– According to our Chinese Discord community members
Interpretation #1
First, the language in the Riot MMO discussion is Mandarin. If you have a Mandarin speaking friend or family, ask them to interpret the video for you. You can submit any additional information by contacting us.
Both AlonTFT and NasDa are native Chinese speakers. They make it clear the quote from the executive should not be misunderstood.
| Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|
| If I am a game designer, I won’t put my career on this game | If I am a game designer, I want to put my career on this game |
Interpretation #2
At no point during the video does the name of the purported executive get mentioned. There are innumerable positions that could fit the description of what Guan described. Again, if you have any ideas, feel free to reach out through Discord, Reddit, Twitter, or directly.
Interpretation #3
NasDa provides a more accurate translation at the 0:56 mark of the video. That is the the part where he finishes quoting the executive and summarizes he interpretation. So, instead, our Discord community member NasDa translates it as the following:
| Video Translation | Native Translation |
|---|---|
| “Then he says it’s not a brand new project. Okay, it’s still under construction. It’s still there. Right-click to create new folder (Chinese idiom). There is not art in it yet. | What I got from his words was that the game development hasn’t even got started yet. It’s like they haven’t decided on anything. Right, guys? |
To add to this, NasDa explains Guan is implying the Riot MMO team doesn’t have a blueprint or know where to build the house, yet they’ve decided to build one.
Interpretation #4
For those who are doubtful, a bit of context on Guan Zeyuan may be warranted. From the perspective of the Chinese League of Legends community, Guan Zeyuan is a well-respected and known employee/affiliate of Riot Games. NasDa states, Guan Zeyuan was invited to Riot Games HQ wherein he had the chance to speak with an executive there.
That alone should not be too unusual considering the following content creators were also invited to Riot Games HQ that same summer.
- Guan Zeyuan was probably invited to Riot HQ in May according to his video.
- Datto, a popular Destiny 2 streamer was flown out to Riot HQ around May 11. Some speculate it was to discuss Riot’s R&D title Project T since they’d be competing in the same genre.
- Asmongold was invited to Riot HQ supposedly a week before Necrit, which would put him around the first week of June.
- Necrit was invited to the Riot HQ as well and likely arrived on June 13.
Here we have four individuals being invited to Riot HQ roughly within the span of a month. Therefore, Guan Zeyaun’s report of being invited to Riot HQ does not seem out of the ordinary.
We Believe Guan, But…
Guan Zeyuan’s account does appear plausible. He is an established Riot employee/affiliate after all. We do believe he spoke with a Riot executive.
However, we do not agree that the Riot MMO is ‘Making a New Folder”. According to our Chinese member, the idiom implies game development is at 0%.
To be clear, we’ll echo another quote from one of our Discord members.
Production might still be at zero % but doesn’t mean they’ve not done anything
ShambitsGaming
Overall, we think the discovery of this Riot MMO discussion is positive news. The development of the Riot MMO is reaffirmed by another source. In addition, the reputable LPL caster Guan Zeyuan believes the Riot MMO will release, eventually.
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New Riot MMORPG Development Discussion between Riot Executive & Prominent LPL Caster
by u/BodybuildingFeed in MMORPG
