League of Legends Season 2023 Trailer Underwhelms Players, Riot Games Responds
Riot Games put out League of Legends' Season 2023 cinematic this week, a trailer meant to kick off the start of the new season and to get players hyped for what's to come. That's been the goal of past seasons' cinematics anyway, and while it's rare that everyone is 100% sold on each cinematic, players seemed particularly underwhelmed by the Season 2023 video. Riot Games acknowledged the sentiment within the community and agreed it "missed the mark" in regards to what players were anticipating.
If you haven't seen the cinematic, you can check it out below to see what you think about it. It's much more reserved than what we've seen in the past, and while it offers a clever perspective on a walkthrough of Summoner's Rift, players seemed to be missing the action element typically present within these sorts of cinematics. Further down, you can see the cinematic from last year as a comparison to show what players experienced previously, and based off of the 2022 cinematic, you can perhaps see why players might've been surprised to get this newest one.
Riot responded to the situation in a thread on Twitter explaining the reasoning behind the cinematic and acknowledging that the intent behind this year's seasonal cinematic could've been communicated clearer.
"We've launched a cinematic as a part of Season Start every year since 2018, and make no mistake: everyone on League knows how much you love them. So do we!" the thread began. "This year, there were some unprecedented circumstances that had us choose an alternate approach to the Season 2023 video. However, we believed it could still embody League's broad universe and competitive spirit while celebrating the start of a new season. But we've heard your feedback, and we want to acknowledge Brink of Infinity missed the mark for the action-packed, champion-led trailer you expected and has led to further speculation about our investment in League. Honestly, we should have been more communicative, which might have helped with some of that feeling and speculation. We do believe that League has a bright future and we are investing in that, but we can do a better job of sharing those plans with you. We are committed to giving you more details about what that investment looks like in the next couple of days. We really appreciate your passion and feedback, and League's success wouldn't be possible without your dedication. Thank you."
League players should expect more details from Riot soon regarding the plans for 2023 and beyond.