Fortnite might not be on iOS anymore, but it’s getting something just as enormous real soon — League of Legends: Wild Rift. The mobile spin-off of the world’s most popular MOBA is getting real close to release.
A closed beta for League of Legends: Wild Rift is currently already live on Android for Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. iOS users also got a sneak preview of what it’ll look like this week during the iPhone 12 reveal, where Apple announced that Wild Rift would be coming to iPhones.
A release date wasn’t announced for Wild Rift during the video, although Apple did say that Wild Rift would be coming to its devices later this year.
But there are a few other hints that indicate that Wild Rift isn’t far away. For one, Android users have noticed that pre-registration prompts for Wild Rift have become more prominent. The game was also listed first in the official Google Play October spotlight, a curated list of mobile releases and upcoming mobile games. (See the bottom row below.)
A producer at Riot Games, Hideo Hikida, also quoted a Tweet linking to a user getting a prompt for a test version of Wild Rift on Android. From the language in the screenshot, the user appears to be in Malaysia, so while other countries haven’t been added to the closed beta, Hikida did confirm that another wave of invites was sent out this week. Users in Brazil also noted that were able to download the Android version, which clocked in at approximately 1.46GB.
Nice! We sent out a bunch this morning to all countries. Love to see it!! https://t.co/9JjnDn3nxC
— Hideo Hikida (@hhikida) October 13, 2020
Today I and other lucky Brazilians received this, was it an error ?? Or we can be Happy! pic.twitter.com/nRG0Jke50W
— DavidBiririto (@Davidzx13) October 14, 2020
I can now dowload it ???????????????????? but haven’t received any email ???? pic.twitter.com/G8aIZlLiiI
— Sheenchan (@twentyfifthshin) October 14, 2020
While nothing’s officially confirmed at this stage, the most obvious and likely timing for any wider release would be around the finals of the League of Legends World Championships. The global esports event always attracts an enormous audience, making it the perfect platform for launching a mobile League.
The grand finals for Worlds aren’t scheduled to kick off until October 31 / November 1 Australian time, a full year after the mobile port — as well as Valorant and Legends of Runeterra — was first announced. The developers have spoken at length about the structure of ranked play, hero unlocks, the levelling system and free-champion rotations, as well as what League heroes will be included in Wild Rift‘s launch.
The mobile game will follow the same design ethos of League on PC, meaning there are no pay-to-win power boosts or heroes permanently locked behind excessive microtransactions. Wild Cores will be Wild Rift‘s equivalent of RP — League‘s in-game currency for unlocking champions, skins and more.
Riot’s support page mentions that existing countries in the closed beta will move into a Regional Open Beta, meaning that anyone in the aforementioned countries will be able to download the game.
A region that’s been in Closed Beta for awhile may switch to Regional Open Beta (anybody in that region can download the game!), while a separate region enters their own Regional Closed Beta (limited invites, gradual expansion). We apologize for any initial confusion this may cause, but we’re hoping that the delineation between open and closed will eventually create a better overall understanding of how the Beta process will be evolving across current and future regions.
(Similarly, if you change your device’s location to one of those countries, you should be able to download Wild Rift from there as well.)
With Apple revealing a 2020 release date and the game’s ongoing tests throughout South East Asia, it looks like a mobile version of League isn’t far away. If it follows the model established by Tencent with games like Honor of Kings or Vainglory, it should play real well — and rack up an enormous amount of downloads real fast. Stay tuned to Kotaku Australia to find out when Australians can get access to the closed beta — and what it’s like to play.
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