Amid a new round of major layoffs at Riot Games, the publisher has also today announced its League of Legends-inspired digital card game Legends of Runeterra will see a “reduction in size and scope” from 2024 onward.
The LoR team was one of several affected by the Riot layoffs that saw around 530 employees let go from the monolith gaming company, which represents around 11 percent of the studio’s global workforce. Alongside the layoffs, the company declared it’s going forward with a focus on its core titles, like VALORANT and League.
Per chief executive Dylan Jadeja and founder Marc Merrill, “LoR has faced financial challenges since launch,” with the development of the game costing significantly more than what the card game generates through in-app purchases.
In a separate “State of the Game” post, game director Dave Guskin admitted LoR has struggled for years to find a sustainable business model. Regarding the layoffs and the scaling back of the game’s scope and size, Guskin said “the current path is necessary” to keep the game alive “for years to come.” Before this, Riot recently attempted to boost the game’s playerbase via an addition to the League client this past November.
Going forward, the “new, refocused” team will place much of their focus on the Path of Champions mode, a single-player roguelike mode with a changing deck that “is already a popular and rewarding experience enjoyed by a majority of [the] audience.” The LoR team will be under new leadership as well, with Guskin leaving his executive producer role, though he will be staying with Riot to “work on other games.” Eric Shen will take over as the new executive producer for Runeterra.
More details about what a scaled-back Legends of Runeterra will look like will come on Feb. 2 via a video with Guskin, Shen, Merrill, and senior VP Andrei van Roon.
