Riot adds ex-World of Warcraft producer to its League of Legends MMO team, and I'm starting to believe it actually exists

Riot’s League of Legends MMO is going to ruin my life. As someone who has spent far too many hours battling it out on Summoner’s Rift, while also spending far too many hours wandering the emerald plains of Azeroth and Eorzea, a Runeterra-set MMO really is a dream come true. But the game looks like it’s caught in development hell, with Riot co-founder Marc ‘Tryndamere’ Merrill confirming that the project had been “reset” back in 2024, and was going dark as a result. We’ve seen some signs of life since then – Merrill has said the “team has a great direction” – and a new hiring suggests things really are ramping up.

In a Thursday January 15 LinkedIn post, former World of Warcraft lead producer Raymond Bartos confirmed that he’s now working on the League of Legends MMO as a senior game producer. Bartos joins fellow Blizzard alumni Orlando Salvatore (now engineering manager on Riot’s new project), reuniting the duo that contributed to WoW’s divisive battle royale mode Plunderstorm and the much-beloved Remixes.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining Riot on the MMO team,” he writes. “From my very first conversation with Riot, I immediately gravitated toward their values – and I was genuinely impressed by how clearly those values showed up throughout the interview process. It made it obvious that kindness, respect, and care aren’t just words here, but something the team truly lives by.

“I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to join such an inspiring group of people, and I can’t wait to get started,” he continues. “Showing up every day to provide value for Riot gamers and help deliver an MMO experience players truly enjoy.

“And as a fun bonus I’ve been barely able to contain: I’ll be re-queuing with my longtime duo partner, Orlando Salvatore. Given our track record on World of Warcraft, I have a feeling we’ll be moving fast on day one.”

As someone who has loved the direction World of Warcraft has taken in recent years, this is beyond exciting to me. While Shadowlands was certainly a low point for Blizzard’s MMO, it feels like The War Within and Midnight are steps in the right direction – even if the addon changes continue to prove divisive.

Plunderstorm was a huge turning point for me – it proved that Blizzard wants to take risks. I hope that innovation can transfer over to Riot’s latest: it’s no secret that the MMO formula has gotten a little stale, and that the genre could use a dose of something new. Merrill promises something that “truly feels like a significant evolution of the genre,” and I’m finally starting to believe it.