Riot games has just announced that it will use the Unity engine to build two of its upcoming mobile titles in the League of Legends franchise.
Those two games will be Legends of Runeterra, which is currently available in a PC beta, and League of Legends: Wild Rift, the mobile imagining of its highly popular PC MOBA.
Both games are planned to release in 2020. Though League of Legends: Wild Rift is likely set for a much later release.
The mobile titles were announced late last year, alongside Teamfight Tactics. A LoL-based auto battler that is also coming to Android and iOS. All three games were also a surprise at the Riot Plz 10th Anniversary event.
Using Unity for the League Of Legends mobile titles is about reach
Riot Games made a conscious decision to build the two upcoming mobile games with Unity because of reach.
It wants to get both Legends of Runeterra and League of Legends: Wild Rift into as many hands as possible. Riot says that Unity was specifically chosen because of its diverse nature of platform accessibility, as it’s used on over 20 different platforms.
This means it was instrumental in putting it on Android and iOS as well as various consoles. Riot hasn’t mentioned which consoles those will be yet. However it’s likely to hit PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. There’s even a chance it could be on Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles.
League of Legends: Wild Rift will start alphas & betas soon
Though Riot isn’t planning to launch League of Legends: Wild Rift until late in the year (by the end of 2020), it will have early access by way of alphas and betas.
In fact the plan is to have limited alpha and beta access in select countries in the near future. Riot hasn’t confirmed any time frames for either just yet. But it does allow people to sign up for the beta now. This can be done by pre-registering either on Google Play or through the League of Legends: Wild Rift website.
Riot is taking what League of Legends is and is rebuilding it specifically for mobile and consoles. This means intuitive controls that can be used and feel accessible and user-friendly on both platforms.
Many of the familiar characters you may know and love will also be making the jump from the PC. If you want a quick little refresher on what this game looks like and what it’ll offer, you can check out the official announcement trailer below that Riot put out last October.