League devs are ‘exploring ways’ to bring back Summoner’s Rift map themes

It’s been a long time since players last saw customized looks of Summoner’s Rift in League of Legends, like the snowy map that was brought back whenever winter came around. But it looks like players aren’t the only ones that have been missing these seasonal changes since Riot is now looking for ways to bring map themes back to the game.

Ken Adams, the product lead on events, loot, skins, and more at Riot, held a short Q&A in a recent post on Reddit and discussed map accents and Summoner’s Rift themes.

The dev recognized that having themes in the game is something that players would love to see. But there are some complications when it comes to making them a reality again in Summoner’s Rift. “Elemental Drakes made this a lot more complicated to do since SR is a very hand-crafted map and is not modular or easy to edit at all,” he explained.

Riot designed Summoner’s Rift in a way that would suit lower-end PCs and allow everyone to play the game. There’s also bandwidth to take into consideration, which can be taxing on performance.

Riot, however, has the same nostalgic feeling toward Summoner’s Rift themes. “That being said – we miss the cozy feels of the snow map (as just one example) as much as all of you,” Adams said. “We are exploring ways to resource some changes there.”

The dev explained that he can’t make any promises for future map accents and themes, but that the team is looking to “find ways to make this [map accents] easier and more sustainable to do.”