League of Legends is one of the biggest computer MOBAs in the world, but it’s nowhere to be seen on mobile platforms. Despite the game’s success over the last 10 years and the rise of mobile MOBAs like Vainglory in the meantime, Riot Games never announced that it was releasing League on smartphones, tablets, or other mobile devices.
But fans of mobile games can still dream about the day when League is released on these devices. There have been some reports and alleged leaks of Riot developing a mobile version of the game, but the company has yet to confirm that publicly.
Here’s everything we know about a potential League release on mobile devices.
League mobile is reportedly under development
A Reuters report released in May said Tencent was working with Riot to bring League to mobile devices. Despite Riot’s refusal to make such a port years earlier, it’s reportedly been in development for over a year now. But it’s “unlikely” to be released in 2019.
Neither Tencent nor Riot commented on the matter and no official statements indicate if this information is correct.
Reported League mobile gameplay leak
The latest news about a mobile port for Riot’s title is a short gameplay video leak of what seems to be League on a smartphone. It’s a short video in Chinese showing how the game’s interface looks on mobile, from champion selection to runes, match gameplay, and HUD.
The game in the video clearly shows League champions and Summoner’s Rift. Although some elements are missing, like Nexus turrets, every other relevant gameplay element seems to have been adjusted and perfectly ported to that screen. Action buttons for abilities and summoner spells also seem to have been developed for mobile, which makes the video look legit.
Tencent already owns a mobile MOBA
Tencent owns Arena of Valor, which was its attempt to profit from the MOBA genre on mobile platforms. The game never became as popular in the West as League did on PC, which likely means it wasn’t as profitable as Tencent wanted or needed it to be.
The existence of Arena of Valor on mobile might make Tencent give up on League mobile to avoid internal competition between its brands. But it also might not make a difference at all since the company could bet on League’s popularity to be successful with a mobile MOBA.
We’ll update this story as we learn more about League of Legends mobile.
