Chapter 01 · Frostguard Citadel
Ice that does not melt. Tribes that do not kneel.
Pre-reset
Named by Riot among the regions players would explore. That was the vision before the March 2024 reset.
2020Announced
2024Reset
2030Before
13Regions
The record
What is actually known
Six years, two directors, one reset. Every entry below is dated and sourced, and carries the status we give it: confirmed, reported, pre-reset, or rumour.
Teased
Riot hints at an MMO during its tenth-anniversary broadcast. No name, no footage.
Announced
Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street, formerly WoW’s lead systems designer, confirms a Runeterra MMO is in development.
Street leaves
The project’s public face departs Riot after nine years. In October the MMO is folded into the unified Runeterra canon.
The reset
Marc Merrill restarts the vision: the first one “wasn’t different enough.” Fabrice Condominas, ex-BioWare, becomes Executive Producer. The team goes dark.
“Most of my time”
At the DICE Summit, Merrill calls it probably the project he spends the most time on. The MMO had lost its technical director two months earlier.
The WoW veterans
Raymond Bartos, former lead producer on World of Warcraft, joins in January. Brian Holinka, its former lead combat designer, follows in June.
The only window
Merrill’s single public statement on timing. Anything more precise is an estimate, and we will say so when we quote one.
Blog
From the atlas
Follow the latest news and know everything about Riot’s next MMO.
Katarina: the Sinister Blade, explained
A Noxian general's daughter whose first assassination went so wrong her father sent a killer after her; in the Riot MMO, the contract-giver of a Noxian questline.
Jarvan IV: the Exemplar of Demacia, explained
Demacia's heir, thrown from a mountain by Noxian artillery and carried home by a half-dragon; in the Riot MMO, the prince who sends a player to the frontier.
How to follow Riot MMO news without being misled
The Riot MMO produces a handful of real events a year and a constant supply of rumour. The four sources that break the real ones, and when Riot tends to talk.
Garen: The Might of Demacia, explained
Demacia's best soldier, sworn against magic since a mage killed his uncle, and afraid his sister is one; in the Riot MMO, the officer who hands out first orders.
Fiora: the Grand Duelist, explained
The Laurent daughter who killed her father in a duel to save the family name and now runs Demacia's house of bladecraft; in the Riot MMO, the duelling master.
The Riot MMO 'facts' that expired in 2024 and are still quoted
Action combat, housing, fishing, a 2028 release: most of what you read about the Riot MMO was true in 2022 and has not been said since. The claims to distrust.
Fiddlesticks: the Ancient Fear, explained
A formless ancient terror that builds itself from what its victims fear, now emptying Demacia's countryside; in the Riot MMO, a boss that wears each player's fear.
The atlas while we wait
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