As one of the most popular games in the world, League of Legends holds the rare position as a video game which could be more than just a game — it could be a multimedia franchise. With over 40 million active players, LOL's developer, Riot Games, knows there's room for it to grow outside of the game, but to do that they need to rebuild their lore from the ground up.

Riot Games released the following statement on League of Legend's official blog:

Evolution is one of the core elements of League of Legends. Champions, events, skins, splash art, and the maps themselves are just some of the avenues through which we seek to continually level up every facet of the game. We want League to always feel current through design balance, art updates, and new character themes and stories.

In the early days of League, we created a fictional background that would justify how players could control champions during games. We came up with concepts like Summoners, Fields of Justice, an Institute of War, and indeed, the League of Legends itself – all in an attempt to provide fictional context for in-game action. After a while, these early choices began to create unexpected problems. Every new champion needed a reason to join and remain in the League, and as their number grew, the net result was that over time the world started to feel, well, small, and eventually less interesting.

League of Legends
Riot Games
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Riot Games' statement continues:

At a very broad level, we’ve decided to push League’s story beyond its original focus on explaining in-game action and forge a new narrative path for Runeterra – a world in which the factions and champions we all know and love have full freedom to grow, travel, and kick ass on a worldwide scale. From champion interactions to bios to events (and beyond), we aim to expand the scope of League’s story and pursue a more dynamic and wide-ranging world fit for the outsized capabilities and personalities of our champions.

Story has the potential to affect every element of League of Legends, so the decision to venture into new narrative territory wasn’t made quickly or capriciously. The need for change only became apparent over time, and the choice was made only after a great deal of deliberation. Further, we want you to know that this new approach is focused on opening up possibilities and unlocking a wider, more fully-fledged world – the point isn’t to tear up older stories that form their own cherished part of League’s history.

Ultimately, what they're saying is they intend to reboot the story behind League of Legends, making sure there is a stronger narrative framework in place henceforth, while still keeping the elements of its story which worked the best. Those who have hungered for stronger lore behind their favorite MOBA can rejoice, and everyone else can get back to fighting, feeding and trolling League of Legends as it was meant to be.

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