The Riot MMO Release Date is the most commonly asked question on our FAQ page. We don’t have an exact release date but we promise you will have better idea after reading through. Keep in mind, no exact date exists this early in development. Not even the developers themselves know. Still, there is plenty of information to make an informed guess. Let’s discuss the Riot MMORPG release date.
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Was Riot Developing the MMO before Announcement?
The Riot MMO was announced strategically on December 17, 2020 via Twitter. Greg Street, the former executive producer for the Riot MMO said Riot was working on an MMO. Additionally, it was mentioned development for the MMO had already begun. It’s difficult to say how long it was in production before the tweet but I think we have a date range. Therefore, yes, Riot was developing the MMO before the announcement.
How Long Has Riot MMO Been in Development?
July 2016
The earliest date we have on how long the Riot MMO has been in development is July 2016. At the time, it was not publicly known that Riot Games was working on a MMO Prototype in 2016.
In retrospect, it’s clear because the executive producer Vijay Thakkar stated while at Riot Games, he was working with a team on a MMO prototype.
October 2019
The domain www.WorldfoRuneterra.com was purchased from Tucows by Riot Games on October 17, 2019. Years later this domain would redirect traffic to the Riot MMO recruiting page. Additionally, this is the same month the future executive producer of the Riot MMO would begin his role as Vice President of Intellectual Property and Entertainment at Riot Games. There is good evidence to support the idea that the Riot MMORPG was being discussed in October 2019.
December 18, 2019: Exactly a year and a day prior to the Riot MMO announcement, Marc Merrill was directly asked if making an MMO is something he’d consider doing. Marc responded that he’d love to but MMOs are a massive undertaking that they would have to do justice. Thus, it would not be anytime soon. Notice how Marc Merrill did not explicitly say Riot Games was not in the process of creating an MMORPG. The question was framed, ‘would you make an MMO anytime soon’, but not would you be releasing one anytime soon. Therefore, we can assume the game was not in development during this time. Although the public cannot be sure.
Foreshadow on Future Game Director’s Thoughts
April 7, 2020:. 8 months and 10 day from this tweet, Greg Street would announce the Riot MMO and his role as the first game director for the game. Nevertheless, he expresses his lack of enthusiasm for working full-time on R&D (Research & Development). He states it is difficult for him to go long periods of time without player feedback. Now that describes quite accurately his current position with the MMO.
In my opinion, Greg Street maintains a professional demeanor. Given that, it would be unlike him is undermine the role of a position he would currently be undertaking. Therefore, Greg Street comment on avoid full-time R&D projects is a strong indicator that the Riot MMO was not in active development as of April 7, 2020.
October 13, 2020: Our best guess is it Greg accepted the position as Game Director for the Riot MMO very close to October 13, 2020. On this day Greg tweeted his return to World of Warcraft after a six year hiatus! From this day onwards, Greg would begin a twitter rampage. Posting more than 14 World of Warcraft return experiences and critical analysis posts from October 13 to days before announcement day, December 17, 2020. We believe he played World of Warcraft as creative inspiration to fuel his new responsibilities as game director. Furthermore, WoW and Riot MMO are of the same genre. Reading between the lines, the Riot MMO will likely take considerable inspiration from World of Warcraft. Of course, it goes beyond Greg’s history as Lead Systems Designer for WoW at Blizzard
2023 Riot MMO Update
A couple of interviews from confirmed Riot Games employees surfaced in 2023. First, there was the Necrit Interview during the summer with Riot MMO executive producer Vijay Thakkar and others. We learned a bit about the team members, and their vision for the game.
Later in 2023, we had a brief interview with Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill. In it he touched on the high level on goings of the Riot MMO project. Most importantly, he reassured fans the game is still very much in production.
Therefore, as 2023 came to a close, fans can remain confident the Riot MMO release date is still very much on the table. In fact, “Riot is committed to the project” was Marc Merrill’s words.
Riot MMO Release Date Analysis
It is often said AAA quality MMORPG games take between four to eight years to complete. These numbers are derived from development time for successful AAA games. These include World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy and more. It is difficult to know if the Riot MMORPG will be finished sooner or later than average. On one hand, it could be on the high end because Marc Merrill stated they would be thorough by building an in-house development team with the best minds in the world. Simultaneously, development time could be on the short side given that Riot Games likely has more financial resources than other developers have had. If they could hire more engineers, artist and more, then perhaps the Riot MMORPG release development time could be shorter.
Originally, our analysis used the average years in our reference above. However, as time passed, we needed to update our end date based on the state of the news.
Additionally, Riot Games does appear to develop slower than other game studios. With that said, lets presume development began on October 13th, 2020 with Greg Street and less than a handful of developers.
| Development Begin Time | Add: Riot Development Time | Development End Time |
|---|---|---|
| October 13, 2020 | Eight Years | October 13, 2028 |
When is Riot MMO Coming Out?
It’s possible the Riot MMO is coming out in late 2028. Here’s our line of thinking. Development likely began around October 2020. Plus, Riot Games takes their time to develop their games. Specifically, if the average game studio takes roughly six years, we can add another two years for Riot Games to be on the safe side.
Lastly, we reassessed the developmental progress during 2023 only to find no concept art and essentially no concrete details. Alas, the Riot Games MMO release date would be around October 2028.
Obviously, this is speculation. We could be off a year or more.
If you’re interested in researching the potential Riot Games MMORPG release date yourself, visit our information page. We have a dedicated Greg Street tweet page with hints and insights about the Riots MMO in general.
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