According to a recent announcement by Riot Forge, the release of Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is going to be delayed. League of Legends players who were looking forward to the upcoming RPG will have to wait until later in 2021 before they get to experience the game.
This sad announcement came the night before the highly-anticipated The Game Awards 2020, which is somewhat ironic given the fact that Ruined King was initially revealed during last year’s event.
Originally, Riot Forge claimed that the RPG would be available and ready to play by “Early 2021,” but a new update on the game’s official Twitter states that this has been changed to simply “Coming 2021.”
https://twitter.com/RiotForge/status/1337079630109392898?s=20
League of Legends is one of the most popular multiplayer titles on the market, so much so that Worlds 2020 had millions of simultaneous viewers. So when it was revealed that the developer was working on a single-player set in the same universe, it definitely came as a surprise to fans.
Unlike the online battle arena, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story will be an immersive turn-based roleplaying game instead. Like most RPG titles, this one also allows players to create and customize their party of familiar League of Legends champions as they explore the different areas of Runeterra like the Shadow Isles and Bilgewater.
Just like with other studios, 2020 was a difficult year for Riot Forge. The events of this year caused a slew of complications and obstacles for the development of Ruined King. Video game delays aren’t uncommon, especially this year when the COVID-19 pandemic caused so many titles to get pushed back.
Given that the timeline for the release window has been changed, it’s safe to assume that the upcoming title just isn’t ready to be released yet and needs a bit more time for necessary adjustments to be implemented. Of course, Riot Forge wants to release a game that’s on par with developer Airship Syndicate’s vision and expectations.
Fans may understandably be saddened by this turn of events, but Riot Forge states that it wants to be as honest and transparent as possible about how the game’s development is going. We commend it for its honesty though, especially since many publishers and/or developers out there have a tendency to release information that leads to fans having unrealistic expectations.
Other titles in Riot’s repertoire, such as League of Legends and Valorant, have seen incredible success since its launch. The delay, in this case, begins to make even more sense because the company, of course, wouldn’t want to release a bad game and disappoint its community.
Riot Games has always focused on releasing multiplayer games, so the fact that it’s beginning to delve into single-player titles could be one of its strategies to boost its playerbase.
For those who don’t know, Riot Forge is a publishing label by Riot Games, and it partners with third-party developers such as Airship Syndicate, in this case. This announcement may be a letdown but on the bright side, Riot Forge is committed to transparency which isn’t something that fans always get from companies.
