Riot Games has announced that it will be shutting down service for League of Legends Classic in January 2027. The MOBA's throwback mode, which launched in July, will see its operations conclude after just three months.
In an official post on the League of Legends website, Riot Games explained that while many players enjoyed revisiting the older version of the game, the majority have since returned to other iterations of League of Legends. This indicates a low sustained player count for the Classic mode.
Despite the closure, Riot Games has expressed interest in bringing League of Legends Classic back in the future, potentially as an event mode with further adjustments and additions. The developer plans to share insights gained from Classic's development and run, aiming to improve any future iterations.
Upcoming Champion Additions and Player Support
Before the shutdown, several new champions are set to be added to League of Legends Classic. Mordekaiser, Yorick, Hecarim, and Lucian will be implemented in patch 26.21, followed by Volibear, Urgot, and Udyr in patch 26.23. Riot is also issuing refunds for Classic-specific content that will become unusable. The Act 2 Classic Battle Pass will feature only a free track, and the Classic store will be limited to selling champions, runes, and rune pages going forward.
To manage player queues and server load, League of Legends Classic will transition to designated play windows. Players in Korea, Latin America North, Latin America South, Taiwan, Vietnam, Turkey, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Russia will have access on weekdays from 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. server time, and on weekends from Saturday 10:00 a.m. to Sunday 1:00 a.m. server time. This measure is intended to prevent extended queue times across different servers.