Riot plans to take League of Legends Classic offline in January 2027. The current season of the throwback mode will be its last, PC Gamer reports, citing a new update from the studio. The announcement comes about three months after Classic launched.
Classic tried to recreate the game as it was in its early years. It dropped most of the champions and kits added since 2013, brought back an older version of the Summoner’s Rift map and promised that returning “new” old champions would arrive faster than they did the first time around.
A Riot spokesperson said players had enjoyed going back to the old version but that interest had faded. “At this point though, most have gone back to other parts of League,” the spokesperson wrote.
Riot does not see the shutdown as permanent. According to the update, the studio wants to bring Classic back, likely as an event mode with changes and additions. Riot also said it will share more later about what it learned from this run, including where it may have stuck too closely to the past.
Players will get refunds for Classic content that the shutdown makes obsolete, according to PC Gamer.
Champions will keep coming until the mode closes. At least seven more are planned. Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim and Lucian are due in update 26.21, and Urgot, Udyr and one more champion will come in later updates.
The mode drew criticism from parts of the community before the announcement. In August, esports veteran Alex Chu, known as Xpecial, offered his explanation for why players used to modern League might be slow to adopt Classic. He also suggested that player votes could push the mode in directions the main game could not take, a future that now looks unlikely, PC Gamer notes.
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