What about an LoL MMORPG? In an interview, Marc Merrill talks about the challenges and his attitude towards it.
Who is speaking? Marc Merrill, one of the founders of the studio Riot Games, spoke about the idea of developing an MMORPG. The studio is behind the hugely successful MOBA League of Legends. The many characters and their stories in LoL would provide a strong basis for a role-playing MMO, according to fans. And Merrill loves the thought as well.
What he said: In an interview with Travis Gafford, who has been deeply involved in the League of Legends scene since its inception, Merrill explained that such an MMORPG would not be developed “in-house.”
To meet such a desire, you would need the best teams in the world. And that would probably not work with a third-party developer.
Then Merrill is asked whether they had considered planning such a game genre. “I mean, you tweeted that and started a huge thing […]” says Gafford, referring to this tweet that triggered a massive hype.
Merrill explains that this tweet did have its purpose.
We believe it’s good when players say ‘Riot, please make an X’ because, why not? I would love to develop an MMO. But to clarify the expectations:
If we were to do something like that, it wouldn’t be “soon.” These things are incredibly hard to develop, and anyone who has built an MMO deserves a medal. […] It’s so much work and so hard, and we would really try to do justice to [a League of Legends MMORPG]. And that’s not easy.
What is the background? The hope for an MMORPG in the League of Legends universe has likely existed among the community for quite some time. However, the tweet from Marc Merrill in July 2018 triggered a massive wave of hype. He asked, “Should we make an MMO? Yay or Nay?”
Shortly after, the PR chief backtracked and explained that the LoL founder was just excited about the new interactive map and that the tweet was not meant seriously. Players, however, were not satisfied with this information and bombarded Merrill with questions about the MMO on Twitter. He didn’t really say yes or no, but rather, “it’s not the best decision to compete with WoW.”
That Riot Games hired MMORPG experts in 2014 and 2016 and secured the name “Legends of Runeterra” also indicated the MMORPG plan. However, at least regarding Legends of Runeterra, we now know that it is a card game from Riot Games.
Yet, the idea of an MMORPG from Riot Games does not seem to be off the table. One just shouldn’t expect it “soon.” After all, many new projects from the LoL developers are also on the horizon:
