Riot Games just laid off over 500 employees. Some of those were also key members for the champions team, meaning we might have to wait a bit longer for new champions in the future.
Throughout the last few years, League of Legends players knew that they would be getting around 4 new champions every single season. With the recent announcement of major layoffs across the board at Riot, this could change.
Players have been wondering about new champions, as well as champion updates after the reveal of multiple rioters getting laid off. So, is the production of new champions in jeopardy.
LoL: Champion Production Likely To Slow Down
With over 500 employees getting let go by Riot, players have been wondering about the future of the game. Sure, the company isn't going to abandon League of Legends – their biggest and oldest cash cow – but there are some major changes in for the player base.
One of those is the production of champions and especially champion updates. It's been said over and over again how champion updates take longer and more resources and have a lower return of investment than new champions. So with that in mind, players have wondered what might happen to champion production going forward.
Lead Champion Producer on League of Legends, Alexia "Lexical" Gao, has taken to Twitter/X to try and alleviate some fears of the players who have lost all hope for their champions getting updates, or just new champions.
We are still in the process of figuring out what we can support vs the timelines. Please stay tuned for the next roadmap for further info. Smolder's and Skarner's release will not be impacted currently.
I've gotten lots of questions on champions and champion updates. We are still in the process of figuring out what we can support vs the timelines. Please stay tuned for the next roadmap for further info. Smolder's and Skarner's release will not be impacted currently.
— Riot Lexical (Lexi) (@neolexical) January 26, 2024
While this is supposed to be a reassuring message, it still reads like the teams themselves are lost at sea right now and trying to find their way back to land. Right now, we also don't know when the next champion roadmap will be released either, to get more information on upcoming champions.
One of the devs working on the Shyvana VGU has been let go, which had some fans concerned about her future. With the update planned for 2025, there is still ample time to find a replacement. For other projects like the Arcane champion VGU, or even the new Freljordian Vastaya champion, we'll have to wait and see what the timeline will be.