Credit: Riot
League of Legends is finally leaving the world of PC exclusivity behind, with Riot announcing a new Wild Rift version of the game will come to mobile and console players.
The new streamlined version of the popular MOBA will come to Xbox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS in 2020. Unfortunately, it won’t feature any form of cross-play.
More than just a down-rezzed version of the game or port, Riot told us that Wild Rift has been built from the ground up to make the most of the various hardware limitations and challenges presented by smartphones, tablets and consoles. It'll feature a twin-stock control scheme and let you buy items remotely.
We don’t have a clear idea of how big the initial roster of champions in Wild Rift will be but the screenshots we saw showcased a good mix of old and new faces (though not many of the game's more recent additions). This included the following:
- Shyvana
- Yi
- Alistar
- Ahri
- Jinx
- Soraka
- Vayne
- Jax
- Ziggs
- Garen
The announcement trailer for Wild Rift also showed off the following:
- Vi
- Ezrael
- Fiora
- Fizz
- Annie
- Nasus
- Lux
- Miss Fortune
- Orianna
- Ashe
Regardless, expect the mobile title to feature slightly less than the 145 playable heroes currently featured in the PC version of League of Legends. At least, right out of the gate. Riot say that your collection of PC champs won't carry over but that there will be some sort of reward for veteran players.
Credit: Riot As opposed to the PC version of the game, Riot told us that matches of Wild Rift would take between 15 and 18 minutes on average.
Depending on your platform, you’ll be able to play with either on-screen controls akin to mobile MOBA’s like Arena of Valor or a controller. We asked Riot about remapping controls or modifying the size of the UI or even whether it’d support app continuity on foldable form-factors and were told they’d come back to us with further details.
Show your skills on a whole new battlefield with @wildrift coming in 2020. Check out the clip to learn more!https://t.co/DDHdg2PkAq
— League of Legends 🥳 (@LeagueOfLegends) October 16, 2019
We also saw a screenshot of the launcher interface for Wild Rift. It featured most of the things you’d expect (Store, Collection, Prepare, Rank, Loot, Missions and Guild) from a mobile MOBA.
Riot told us they expect Wild Rift to be monetized in the same way as the original League of Legends.
The developer are taking pre-registration signups for League of Legends: Wild Rift from today ahead of a 2020 launch.
