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Riot Games unveiled its 2024 roadmap for League of Legends, spotlighting in-game crossovers leading into Arcane’s second season debut in November. To celebrate the release, Riot will add Arcane-inspired gameplay and characters to their PC MOBA.
The developer will bring fan favorite season one character, Ambessa Medarda, to League of Legends later this year. Additionally, another unspecified champion will receive a visual update to better match their Arcane design. Of course, Riot also plans to launch a new line of Arcane-inspired skins to promote season two.
The presentation included a preview of what’s to come in the Emmy award-winning Netflix series. The preview confirmed that another champion, Warwick, will join the cast.
Riot held a similarly massive event to promote Arcane season one across its portfolio of titles, Reddit, escape rooms and more. While Riot hasn’t announced external events just yet for season two, the upcoming content and gameplay will set the stage for a broader marketing roll out. Additionally, Season two will debut shortly after League of Legends’ 15th anniversary so expect big things from Riot this fall.
Gameplay, Content and LoL Esports
Outside of Arcane, Riot also announced broader gameplay changes and upcoming 2024 League of Legends content.
“Season Start is a moment to set the stage for the weeks and months ahead and provide a sneak peek at
some of the content the team has been working on,” said Andrei van Roon, Head of League Studio. “We
hope you’re excited about what you’ve seen so far for 2024. This year is also extra special because we’ll
be celebrating League’s 15th birthday in October! Best of luck on your climbs, and welcome to Season
2024.”
In 2024, the developer plans to roll out a new, more casual gameplay mode and changes to both its ranked and champion mastery systems. Additionally, Riot plans to add its Valorant anti-cheat software, Vanguard, to League of Legends.
Riot also provided a long list of content coming to LoL in 2024. This includes cosmetics and other visual updates for its ever-growing roster of Champions. In addition to Ambessa Medarda, Riot announced two more champions, Smolder and an unnamed Vastayan solo lane champion, coming to the rift this year.
Finally, Riot also announced changes to its qualifying rules for its two international tournaments. The League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) will take place on May 1-19, 2024 in Chengdu, China. Later on, the League of Legends World Championships will take place from September 25 to November 2, 2024. Berlin will host Play-ins and the Swiss rounds. After, the Quarter finals will be held in Paris while London will host the finals.
Arcane season one debuted shortly after Worlds 2021. However, Riot has not specified if or how it will promote the second season through esports yet. The show’s November debut aligns with Worlds 2024 Finals so cross-promotion is likely.
To further honor its esports legacy, Riot is also launching the LoL Esports Hall of Legends — its version of a hall of fame. An independent committee will select the first inductee, which will be honored both in and out of the game.
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