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.
Everything we actually know about Riot’s MMO
The reference page. What is confirmed, what expired with the 2024 reset, and what is only rumour.
Coming soon
Why “before 2030”, and not sooner
How to read the only date Riot has given, and why the 2028 estimate keeps getting quoted as fact.
Coming soon
The 2024 reset, explained
What Merrill said, what changed in the team, and what it means for everything announced before it.
Coming soon
Who is building it: Riot’s WoW all-star team
Bartos, Holinka, Salvatore. A hiring pattern that says more than any statement.
Coming soon
Which races will be playable, and why the Darkin won’t be
Humans and Yordles are near-certain. Vastaya likely. Everything else is a transformation, not a species.
Coming soon
Action combat or tab-target: what the Holinka hire tells us
A principal designer who spent a decade on WoW’s PvP and combat systems does not join a project in its exploration phase.
Coming soon
Where to start with Runeterra, from zero
Thirteen regions, a thousand years of history, and one reading order that will not lose you.
Coming soonThe atlas while we wait
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