League of Legends Is Adding a Built-In Voice Chat

It's been a long time coming, but League of Legends is finally adding a voice chat feature to allow parties to communicate easier.

As part of a developer update that was focused on the game's party system, Riot Soundwave confirmed that a "quick and easy" version of voice communication is now in production. Simply called League Voice, the new voice chat feature will become part of the party system when it's finished.

"We've been talking about this for a while, but League Voice is finally in production," Riot Soundwave said. "It'll be built into the party system, so as long as you're in a premade party, you'll all be in the same voice room. If you're unable to or don't want to participate in voice comms, you'll be able to opt out."

One of the most important parts of this feature to take note of is the fact that it's exclusive to the party system. That means that if you're not in a premade group, you won't be able to talk to your teammates. Whether this is a plus for you or not depends on your stance on open voice chat in League, but some players have expressed concerns about team-wide voice chat in the past. Those players who are hesitant to hop on with a mic and bring the chat box to live can rest easy knowing that Riot isn't planning on making the voice chat available outside of the party system.

"To answer a question that's probably on your mind: We are currently not planning on expanding League Voice to team members outside of your premade party," Riot Soundwave explained. "Playing with friends usually makes for a safer environment than playing with strangers, and until we have better tools to help address abusive scenarios with strangers, we will not be implementing it outside of premades. We trust that between the social implications of being a jerk to your friends, being able to kick people from your party, and the capability of muting individual members, players will be equipped to deal with their ill-behaved party members."

No release date for the League Voice feature was provided.