Summary
Update: 12-05-2025 19:00BST - Riot Games has confirmed with TheGamer that there are no plans to release Rune Battlegrounds globally right now,as the TCG will be released exclusively in China.
Riot Games has had a couple of successful projects over the years, including the immensely popular hero shooterValorant, though its main cashcow will likely always beLeague of Legends. It’s an absolutely massive game, with millions of users logging in almost every day, and it now seems as though Riot Games is going to continue building on that popularity by making moves in the TCG market.
According to a video shared byTwitter account Valorant News, which appears to have leaked via the Chinese video-sharing platform bilibili, Riot Games is planning to announce a new physical TCG called Rune Battlegrounds. This TCG will seemingly feature various Champions from League of Legends and will be released globally at some point in 2025. You can check out the trailer below for yourself:
That’s pretty much all the info we have at the moment until Riot Games makes an official announcement anyway, but it already has its work cut out for it given how busy the TCG market is these days. Rune Battlegrounds' primary competition will undoubtedly be Magic: The Gathering since they both include fairly similar fantasy elements.
Magic: The Gatheringis massive, so Riot is going to have to absolutely nail the launch of Rune Battlegrounds if it wants any chance of establishing a foothold. While the audiences may differ, we also have thePokemon TCG,Yu-Gi-Oh!, andDisney Lorcanato throw into the pot too, so Rune Battlegrounds could potentially struggle to pull in TCG fans that aren’t established League of Legends players.
In any case, it’ll be fun to see whether Riot has the chops to launch a successful TCG and maintain it, or whether it’s going to be abandoned like so many others in the past. For now, all eyes are on Riot for an official reveal in the near future.
