While news of a physical card game using characters fromLeague of Legendsquickly got fans excited for a global release, a quick update left many disappointed only an hour later. Stemming from the original MOBA, theLeague of Legendsfranchise has been slowly expanding into other forms of media - most notably, theNetflix showArcanehas gained widespread popularity even outsideLoL’s core audiences, but other efforts likeLegends of Runeterra,Teamfight Tactics, and various smaller games have also obtained varying degrees of success as well.
As shown byValorant Newson X (formerly Twitter), a Chinese trailer for aLeague of Legends-based physical card game, titledRune Battlegrounds, quickly got fans excited about a supposed global release in 2025. Just over an hour later, however, a tweet from Riot Games employeeJoe Hixsonrefuted any global release rumors, with Hixson saying that"there aren’t any plans for a worldwide release at this time."
While Hixson did also note that it’s “possible things could change,” it’s been confirmed thatthere are no current plans for releasing the card game outside of China.
LoL’s Physical Card Game (Probably) Won’t Get A Global Release
Rune Battlegrounds Will Be Exclusive When It Launches In 2025
While the Chinese exclusivity ofRune Battlegroundsis disappointing, it’s not entirely unexpected, asthe Chinese market forLeague of Legendsis by far its largest audience. Furthermore, theLoLcard game that already exists,Legends of Runeterra, is notably one of the less successful efforts by Riot to expand theLoLIP outside the original MOBA, with support for the game both dwindling and making more of a shift towards PvE content.
Legends of Runeterrais still an actively supported game, but a 2024 update marked a major shift in the game’s development, shrinking the size of the dev team and scaling back on PvP elements as a result of low revenue.
Other games using theLoLIP, likestory-drivenSong of Nunu,2D platformerConvergence, and other games that came out of the relatively short-lived Riot Forge publishing label, have also apparently seen less success than Riot would have liked - Forge was officially shut down in January 2024, five years after it initially launched, withBandle Tale, released the month after, being the label’s last game to release. While other efforts likeTFTandArcanehave been much more successful,Riot may still be testing the waters withRune Battlegroundsbefore planning a global release.
Unfortunately, in spite of a flashy teaser and rumored global release,Rune Battlegroundswill be exclusive to China when it launches in 2025, with no current plans for a global release. No specific reason for the exclusivity has been stated, but given the mixed results ofLeague of Legendsmedia outside the original game, Riot could be waiting to see how the card game does in China before potentially making the decision to release it globally.
