Many players wish that the popular arena mode in League of Legends would stay permanently. However, Riot Games has temporarily removed the game mode and explained why they remove game modes.
What is it about? Riot Games has introduced a variety of new game modes in LoL over the years. These include: Urf, One for All, Hexa-Kill, Nexus Siege, Ascension, and more. The game modes come back every now and then in a rotating manner – but never stay permanently.
This summer, a new game mode was introduced: Arena. In this mode, four pairs of teams compete against each other in chaotic 2v2 battles, with the gameplay style changing with cool augmentations every few rounds. In the end, only one team wins.
The arena mode was popular among players, but it was recently removed by Riot Games. The mode is supposed to return in December.
But why do popular game modes not stay permanently in the game? The game producer at Riot Games has now provided an explanation: There is a method behind it.
This LoL trailer was not particularly well received in the community:
Riot Games wants to bring game modes back with optimizations
What was said? The developer Eduardo Cortejoso, employed at Riot Games, recently revealed the reasons for the removal of popular game modes in a conversation with Polygon.
Arena was part of a larger plan, after Riot had previously released their disappointing annual cinematic and players were concerned that the game was stagnating.
Riot Games faced some challenges. The balance changes, which were not particularly well received by some players, led to heated discussions – as well as the unaffordable Jhin skin.
Regarding the released arena mode, he said:
As for Arena, especially since LoL went through a difficult phase at the beginning of the year, we really wanted to use this as an opportunity. Our goal was to regain the players’ trust.
Eduardo Cortejoso
Cortejoso explained that the decision on whether a game mode stays permanently was often made in the past based on playtime or purchases per account.
Furthermore: The developers who worked on many of the previous game modes have either left Riot or joined other Riot teams (for example: Teamfight Tactics).
For this reason, the League team aimed to develop a game mode with Arena that they can continue to evolve until its return. The “next” arena is expected to offer some optimizations and new elements that will excite players.
In this regard, Eduardo Cortejoso emphasizes:
We are increasingly focusing our attention on developing game modes to explore player groups that have been less considered so far, as well as fulfilling previously unmet expectations and motivations.
That’s why we created something new with Arena, targeting a shorter game duration and being more random-based through the augmentation system.
Eduardo Cortejoso
Riot hopes to create a broader range of player experiences despite the riskier approach. They intend to continue developing game modes in the coming years.
Cortejoso states that they expect to simplify the development processes and learn a lot in the coming years. Therefore, players can expect more innovations from the “League of Legends” team, especially in the area of game modes.
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