Raymond Bartos has joined Riot Games to work on its still-in-development League of Legends MMORPG. Bartos served as lead producer on World of Warcraft from March 2022 until his recent departure.
At Blizzard, Bartos oversaw production during the Dragonflight and The War Within expansions. Both releases were generally well-received by the WoW community, marking a recovery period after the poorly-received Shadowlands expansion.
Riot’s Runeterra MMORPG has been in development for years as part of the company’s broader expansion beyond League of Legends. The project sits alongside Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, the Arcane animated series, and the upcoming fighting game 2XKO.
The MMO underwent a significant reset in recent years. Riot previously acknowledged changing direction on the project, though the company has shared few public details about the game’s current state or development timeline.
Lead producers in game development typically handle scheduling, milestone planning, and coordinating teams across different departments. They manage deliverables and keep projects on track rather than designing gameplay systems or content directly. The role becomes especially critical in large-scale productions like MMORPGs.
Riot has recruited from Blizzard’s MMO talent pool before. Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street, another former WoW developer, previously led the Runeterra MMO project before departing Riot. WoW veterans frequently move into other MMO projects due to the specialized expertise required for the genre.
Riot has yet to show any gameplay footage, screenshots, or concept art from the MMO publicly. No release window has been announced, and details about monetization model and platforms remain unknown.
