Round-Based League of Legends Game Mode Teased

League of Legends is getting a new game mode in the summer, Riot Games said teased this week. The game mode is currently in the prototyping phase and is more of a deathmatch-style mode compared to some of the other infrequent game mode offerings outside of Summoner's Rift and ARAM. The mode will be shown off prior to its debut in the summer, Riot said, with more info expected to be released at some point in March.

The new game mode was teased as part of a longer video Riot put out, a video which was essentially an apology for a lack of communication and other mistakes the head of League Studio Riot Meddler and executive producer Riot Brightmoon accounted for. Game modes were a topic of conversation there, and from that, we got our first tease for this new deathmatch mode.

"The good news though now is that we have a modes team who is staffed up and ready to execute," Riot Brightmoon said around the 4:05 point in the video. "In fact, just this week, we played a prototype for a new game mode a couple of days ago, and it's really promising and is something that we're hoping to get out to all of you sometime this summer."

A follow-up message from Riot Brightmoon and Riot Meddler on behalf of the League team.

We know we failed to deliver some stuff that really matters to you folks. We want to share some thoughts and talk about how we're working to do better. pic.twitter.com/Br8Oi9E8dN

— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) January 13, 2023

Adding to that, Riot Meddler gave some more insights into what this new mode actually consists of as well as an indication of when we'll hear more about it.

"So, this is a mode that involves four teams of two who get matched against each other in a series of deathmatch-like rounds," Riot Meddler said. "And buy items, level up, and so on between rounds. It's a little janky. It's a little rough as a prototype, but we think it's showing a lot of promise, and our current thinking is we'll share some more details about it, some art, etc., probably in March, and then hope to get it out around the middle of the year so that you folks can play that."

Past communications from Riot have painted rotating game modes in a way that made it difficult to have confidence in many of the modes that players recall so fondly. A lengthy post about game modes from last year, for example, listed a ton of modes which Riot said it had no plans to bring back, so any news of a new mode is a welcome development for those who want a break from the normal experiences every now and then.