One thing fans can expect from Riot: Banger cinematics and a lot of skins... but it seems that the cinematic for LoL Season 13 was anything but a banger and it's got players worried for the future of the game.
Riot Games usually doesn't miss when it comes to the music and the cinematics they produce for the fans. Just recently they released an epic short for their upcoming Valorant skin bundle which had fans hyped, so LoL fans were expecting something big as well going into 2023.
But Riot had been staying quiet... a little too quiet and it got some people worried for the LoL Season 13 announcement. Now, it seems like people were right and fans are even more upset about the state of League going into 2023.
LoL Cinematic 2023 Leaves Fans Extremely Disappointed
The League of Legends cinematic to kick off a new season has been a tradition for the last few years. The cinematics were epic, with insane music, as well as some lore tidbits for everyone to enjoy. Hell, in 2021 the cinematic was a whole lore-piece teasing the upcoming Ruination event that would keep fans enthralled throughout the season.
So, of course, fans were expecting something epic for 2023 as well. Instead of music and instead of lore, fans were greeted with well... this. Just watch the video below if you haven't yet.
Basically it's a drone tour of Summoner's Rift in Unreal Engine 5, with some "inspirational" voice lines from champions turned into a poem. Riot sprinkled in some esports quotes as well to try and spice things up, but it only makes the whole composition feel off.
Well we were clowns for writing this article:
The cinematic is a way to engage with the community, to let them know why they should be playing League this year again and in previous years Riot has put the characters, the stories and the lore in the forefront, while this cinematic basically screams "ranked and esports" and nothing else.
Not a single champion was seen and this was a complete disappointment for most fans. One user on Reddit expressed his disappointment in a post asking whether "[Riot] are reducing the budget of League so much?"
They go on to list a few issues they've noticed over the last year or so, like Ahri's ASU taking over a year to be complete, Skarner's VGU still being in the concept stage (and let's be real they didn't show any new concept during the LoL Season 13 livestream), as well as the lack of events and new content.
They go on to note that Valorant gets better cinematics for skin bundles and Wild Rift has much better new skins as well for their champions. These changes have them and multiple other fans worried for the future of League of Legends and the direction Riot has chosen for the game.