Riot Games Reportedly Beginning Player Tests For New Fighting Game

Over the past few years, Riot Games have branched out to other genres of gaming outside of their flagship title, League of Legends, using the brand as a gateway for other ventures. Last year, both Teamfight Tactics and Legends of Runeterra would release, the latter being Riot's version of a card fight game within the League of Legends universe.

Riot's first FPS, Valorant, was released shortly after combining the hero ability format of Overwatch and the objective-based "one-life-per-round" gameplay of Counter-Strike. Prior to its official release, Valorant was a hit among players following a successful beta integration via Twitch drops. With Wild Rift on the way, promising League-style gameplay on mobile devices, there is a bevy of other titles from Riot that players have been patiently waiting for.

One of the titles was a League of Legends-themed fighting game, first announced during the 2019 EVO tournament by EVO founder, Tom Cannon, who also announced that he will be working on the game along with his brother and fellow EVO founder, Tony Cannon. After months of silence, it appears that news relating to the League fighting game, codenamed Project L, will soon be announced. Pro Runeterra player The Skilled Roy first discovered that Riot began rolling out player surveys to specific players.

What's intriguing about these surveys is that it targets players in the greater Los Angeles area and the questions in the survey relate to fighting games. At the end of the survey, Riot asks for a schedule of availability, with the lucky players chosen for a future playtest within the LA area. The Skilled Roy deducts that the playtests will be related to Project L, as the Project L studios are not only based in LA, but Riot had done something similar with Valorant prior to its closed beta.

Tom and Tony Cannon founded Radiant Entertainment and in 2016, developed the PC fighting game Rising Thunder. Shortly after the game was canceled, Riot Games bought Radiant Entertainment and it was then that they began development on the League fighting game. Details on Project L were first revealed alongside what would eventually become Valorant in October and it was rumored that more information would have been revealed during EVO 2020 were it not for its cancellation.

With the announcement of Sony's recent purchase of EVO, The Skilled Roy believes that a Project L-related announcement will happen during EVO 2021. Part of the reason is that the founders of EVO would not only want to share more information about their game, but the playtest surveys and the window of timing seem far too coincidental. League of Legends and fighting game fans alike will have plenty of information to look forward to between now and August when EVO 2021 begins.

League of Legends has been around for over a decade, debuting as one of the games of the MOBA genre that drew popularity towards what was once a niche genre. Its colorful cast of champions is one of League of Legends' major drawing points, with each champion being unique in their personality, gameplay, and individual lore. For a game with over 150 champions, that feat in itself is an impressive one that Riot Games continues with every new addition to its roster. Going hand-in-hand with the abundance of champions League of Legends has to offer are its accompanying skins.