Riot Co-Founder Calls League MMO a 'Grail Quest'

Riot Games co-founder Mark Merrill has described the studio's in-development League of Legends MMO as its "grail quest." The project was first announced five years ago, in August 2021, and has since undergone significant changes and seen high-profile developers depart.

Speaking to Greg Miller of Kinda Funny Games at PAX, Merrill insisted the MMO is still actively in development. He acknowledged the challenges of meeting player expectations at scale but expressed confidence in the team's progress.

The 'Grail' Mindset

Merrill explained the team jokingly refers to the project as the "grail" because, in his words, "many a brave knight are gonna die on the grail quest." He stated this high-risk, high-reward mindset is one the studio actively tries to cultivate, despite the difficulty of maintaining it across a large team. "I think we're doing a reasonable job," Merrill said. "And I think the future's incredibly bright."## Fan Skepticism and Past Setbacks

The comments were met with skepticism from some fans online, particularly within the fighting game community."They hyping up this MMO like they aren't just going to shoot it in the face after six months cause it won't be bigger than WoW." Another, Gil, questioned, "Why would anyone be excited for anything they release when they fumbled 2XKO as hard as they did."

A Reset and Renewed Hope

The MMO's development path has been rocky. In 2022, then-executive producer Greg Street warned fans there was "no guarantee" the game would ship before announcing his departure from Riot in early 2023. In 2024, Merrill confirmed the project had been "reset," stating the team had gone back to the drawing board "some time ago" to ensure they could deliver on the vision.

At that time, Merrill asked for patience, saying the lack of public updates would "help provide space for the team to focus on the incredible amount of work ahead of them." He reminded fans that "no news is good news," as it indicated the team was hard at work.

A recent hiring has given some followers renewed hope. In January, former World of Warcraft producer Raymond Bartos joined Riot Games, a move interpreted by many as a sign of serious commitment to the MMO genre. The project's status remains officially in development, with no release window announced.