The card game Legends of Runeterra has shared new information about the end of the beta and new cards. But the game is currently not popular. Is the release the last chance?
What has Riot announced? In a trailer, the developers of Legends of Runeterra announced the release date of the card game. It will be released on April 30. The release will take place for PC and mobile, Android as well as iOS.
Along with the release, 120 new cards and a completely new region will also be added to the game. There are currently no exact details available.
But is that enough to save the card game? Because it has currently vanished quite a bit.
LoR has problems, but not all of them are its own fault
How is the card game doing right now? On January 24, Legends of Runeterra entered open beta. Since then, anyone can play it for free. Initially, many praised the mix of Hearthstone and Magic, as I also did in a column. Many found the absence of booster packs very positive.
But over time it became clear that while the card game has good ideas, it does not retain players long-term. Interest noticeably declined already in February. Riot promised many innovations, card rotations and made important balance changes.
But apparently that wasn’t enough. Interest on Google has strongly declined (via Google Trends) and on Twitch, only an average of 1,505 people watched the card game in the last 14 days (via Sullygnome). Hearthstone had an average of 36,161 viewers in the same period but recently announced a new expansion with 135 cards.
What problems does LoR have? Legends of Runeterra struggled at launch and still occasionally faces balance issues. However, these can be solved over time.
On Reddit, there have also been discussions about round times, missing features to challenge friends, and the fact that the game is slow for newcomers because control decks currently dominate.
But the really big problems are not in the hands of the developers.
The new title from the LoL developers enters a market that is already niche. This niche is well occupied by Hearthstone as an established title and Magic, which has a large fanbase as a physical card game.
Other card games like Artifact by Valve, which is now being relaunched, or Gwent to The Witcher also failed. It was unlikely from the start that LoR would really take off.
Can the release bring a turnaround?
With the release on April 30, not only new cards will be released, but the game will also be launched for Android and iOS. It is quite possible that the mobile version, which also offers crossplay, will attract new players.
However, it is also possible that Legends of Runeterra simply disappears into oblivion over time. That would then be the first flop that Riot Games would have produced.
Another new title from Riot, however, is already enjoying great popularity among professional players.
