Riot Games
- 'Chronoshift,' a legacy server made by fans of 'League of Legends,' has shut down.
- Riot Games, the 'League' developer, issued a formal legal request through their counsel on Monday.
- The company's legal guidelines specifically prohibit the use of their characters in other games.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Riot Games, the developer of the hit video game "League of Legends," has issued a legal request to cease development on "Chronoshift," a fan-made game.
"League of Legends" has been going strong since October 2009, putting players into the roles of champions with unique powers who fight an enemy base. Over the last 11 years, the game has drastically changed, with developer Riot Games adding new content, called "patches," every two to three weeks. From small balance changes to massive overhauls to how champions work, these hundreds of changes have fundamentally altered the feel of the title.
"Chronoshift" was a fan project made in 2020 to capture the old-school magic of "League of Legends." Developers used emulation techniques to create an experience with older graphics, outdated maps that haven't been seen in the game in years, and 65 champions, compared to the 155 champions now available in the live game.
"We wanted to allow people to experience these older modes along with the slower paced gameplay that made this version of 'League' very different from the modern game," a "Chronoshift" developer, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the legal battle, told Insider.
"Chronoshift" has been taken down amid the legal threats, though it's unclear if Riot Games will continue forward with any action.
'Chronoshift' turned back the clock for nostalgic 'League' players
"League of Legends" fans developed "Chronoshift," an old version of the game that is playable as a legacy server. Legacy servers are incredibly popular with nostalgic fans looking to rekindle old gameplay.
Some video games, like "Old School Runescape" and "World of Warcraft Classic," do still capture the original feelings those titles had back when computers ran like potatoes. But with other games, all the new bells and whistles can get in the way of players having a simpler experience.
"We felt that we took extreme measures to avoid violating any of Riot's copyrights and marks by not using any of their code and requiring users to download assets directly from Riot as they would to play the modern game," the "Chronoshift" developer said. "We feel that our work made a good faith effort to avoid any legal pitfalls by not distributing any of Riot's assets and clearly disclaiming any endorsement or association with Riot."
A Riot Games developer sent threatening messages to "Chronoshift" developers
Over the weekend, the "Chronoshift" Twitter account said that Riot Games' representatives told them to shut down the title or face a potential lawsuit. Zed, a security developer for Riot Games, spoke with one of the developers on Discord, issuing legal threats if the fan project was not taken down and their source code was not handed over, according to screenshots shared on Reddit.
"You've obviously put a lot of work into Chronoshift but the Chrono break is coming," Zed wrote. "Give me what I'm looking for and we won't sue. Refuse and we will."
-Chronoshift Project (@ChronoshiftDev) April 27, 2021
A Riot Games representative verified the conversation and told Insider that the company is "disappointed with the tenor of the conversation and we'll be addressing this internally."
Still, the legal battle is very real. On Monday, Riot Games' legal counsel sent a letter to "Chronoshift" developers, a representative confirmed to Insider. "Unauthorized servers such as Chronoshift harm Riot, its business, and, ultimately, its employees," the letter said. This led the "Chronoshift" team to take down their servers, as the letter demanded, as well as their Discord channel.
"We're more angry about the extremely rude and unprofessional way we were contacted and their demands that we turn over our source code which we developed ourselves," the "Chronoshift" developer said, adding that "Riot took such an aggressive and rude approach regarding us and did not attempt to come to a mutually beneficial outcome was very disappointing to us."
In section three of Riot Games' legal guidelines, the company prohibits the use of their characters, abilities, maps, icons, and any intellectual property in other games.
Commenting on the original "Chronoshift" announcement post on Reddit in March 2020, Gene Chorba, who works in developer relations at Riot Games, warned the group not to move forward. "Please don't do this," Chorba wrote. "We have very simple and easy to read policies around developing products around Riot Games," he added, referencing Riot's guidelines.
Greg Street, the head of creative development at Riot Games, has previously alluded to players' desire to play an older version of the game. In a 2017 question-and-answer post, Street wrote that "there is a good chance it's not worth the development effort that it would take" to develop an old version of "League of Legends," and that "the opportunity cost of that work is probably pretty expensive."