League of Legends developer Riot Games just announced they’re working on two new story-based games. The news was premiered at this year’s Game Awards on Thursday, December 12.
Up until now, League of Legends has been one of Riot Games’ only titles, but it’s been a profitable creation. Since the game’s initial release in 2009, League of Legends has generated over $15 billion in revenue and is one of the most popular games of all time, and has more players than the top 10 games on Steam combined. The game has also taken over the eSports scene, as the League of Legends World Championship had nearly 100 million viewers in 2018, making it the most viewed sporting event in the world.
During an announcement at The Game Awards 2019, Riot Games dropped two new trailers for titles which are currently in the works at their studio, both of which seem to lean more into a narrative-centric experience than the studio’s flagship game. The first was Convergence, an action-platformer about the time-travelling League of Legends champion Ekko. Convergence looks like it will be diving deeper into Ekko’s backstory, while also boasting a 2D-inspired art style and a futuristic setting. According to The Verge, Convergence is being created under Riot Forge, Riot Games’ new initiative to work with third-party developers, and is primarily being developed by Double Stallion Games, the studio behind the 2D combat-racer Speed Brawl.
The second trailer announced another one of Riot’s projects, a turn-based RPG called The Ruined King. This title will allow players to explore the Shadow Isles and the city of Bilgewater, and will also feature some fan-favorite champions from League of Legends, although the details haven’t been divulged quite yet. The Ruined King is also a Riot Forge project, and is being developed by Airship Syndicate, known for this year’s hack-and-slash RPG Darksiders Genesis.
After nearly a decade of Riot Games focusing solely on League of Legends, it’s nice to see they’re starting to build up their catalog of titles. Convergence and Ruined King aren’t even the only games in Riot’s production pipeline, either, as they are also working on an untitled team shooter with the code name “Project A,” a fighting game referred to as “Project L,” and an open world game called “Project F.” In addition, they’re also working on an animated series, Arcane, which will flesh out the stories of some other League of Legends champions—specifically Jinx and Vi. With such a colorful cast of characters at their disposal, it’s a smart move for Riot Games to build on the personalities players already know and love. All these crossovers and spin-offs could turn Riot into the Marvel of the gaming world, especially with the new graphic novels the two companies are collaborating on.
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Source: The Verge/YouTube
