League of Legends Mobile is Coming Via Tencent & Riot
By TJ Denzer ·
It looks like Tencent and Riot are finally bringing one of the strongest MOBAs on the market to mobile. League of Legends is set to come to the platform.
It’s happening. Riot and Tencent are finally bringing one of the world’s most popular MOBAs and competitive games to mobile. The two companies have reached an agreement on development League of Legends for Mobile, marking the end of a years-long strained conversation on the matter.
The news broke via an exclusive on Reuters on May 22, 2019. According to the original story, three sources had confirmed that Tencent and Riot were in talks and had already begun development on League of Legends mobile for a year. This comes as apparently Riot has sought to bring new life, more players, and more money to the game, according to analyst Gu Tianyi of Newzoo. “League of Legends is not doing as well as it used to,” Tianyi claimed. “And so Riot badly needs a new way to monetise the game, especially considering that it is Riot’s only game.”
This news comes after years of strained talks and debate between Riot and Tencent about the process of bringing League of Legends to mobile. The conversation has been happening for years, even despite Tencent buying out Riot in 2015. While Riot has continued to maintain the stance of making the PC version the best it can be, MOBAs like Arena of Valor, also handled by Tencent have proven that the genre can work well on mobile platforms.
With League of Legends being hands-down one of the best of the genre, it has lagged behind in this regard and this move by Riot was debatably late, let alone inevitable. While the game continues to see plenty of new content, including patches and new characters like Yuumi, and the game’s competitive scene remains robust with MSI 2019 just having finished, its lack of a mobile port leaves a huge unfilled opportunity. This is especially true in areas like China where restrictions on mobile gaming are less strict than PC. With huge player bases that already participate in League of Legends in these areas, the game can only grow with mobile representation.
What are your thoughts on this move? Would you play League of Legends on mobile devices? Can you see it doing well there? Let us know!