Senior Gameplay Designer Leung-Harrison: We heard loud and clear that last year felt like a bit of a sensory overload. We missed the mark on some targets, and dumping massive patches all at once put a strain on everyone. This year, we’ve taken a more conservative approach. We’ve focused on getting back to the fundamentals, only applying smaller changes where the positive impact was crystal clear. We’ve stayed away from overly experimental stuff that could have had a negative knock-on effect.

Senior Gameplay Designer Leung-Harrison: League of Legends is, at its heart, an action and strategy game. Last year, the sheer volume of objectives like Atakan and the dragons actually restricted strategic choice rather than expanding it. These forced players into specific behaviours, leaving no room for creativity in skirmishes or side-lane management. Returning to the essence means creating an environment where players can actually flex their strategic muscles freely.

It also comes down to defining the identity of each role. For instance, there used to be little difference between playing certain champions top or bottom, so we introduced position quests to draw those lines. Mid laners focus on boot upgrades for roaming, top laners get better access to teleport for split-pushing, and bot lane carries focus on gold generation for items. We wanted to clarify these roles without shackling the player's choices.

Senior Gameplay Designer Leung-Harrison: The introduction of Fearless Draft last year took a massive weight off our shoulders regarding esports-only balancing; it’s helped champions thrive in both casual and pro play. We certainly lean into the pro meta right before major events like MSI, but in the off-periods, we focus on general balance that lets regular players have fun with things like Vayne jungle or Darius jungle.

Executive Producer Bellezza: Now that TFT has its own engine and client, we have a lot more freedom to iterate on the core League of Legends experience. While WASD and controller support have been received positively without compromising the game’s integrity, there are no official plans to bring the game to console platforms.

Executive Producer Bellezza: We believe collaborations should be more than just throwing an external skin into the game; they need to be co-productions that create genuine value for the players. The Louis Vuitton partnership is a prime example. It’s something we discuss internally, but there’s nothing on the cards right now.

Executive Producer Bellezza: That MMORPG has been in development for years, and we are still actively hiring. However, that project falls under the R&D department, not the PC League of Legends team, so I can’t go into specifics. Like you, I’m waiting to see what they come up with.