Riot Games shuts down 'extra fake' Deadlock competitor rumour
4chan strikes again.
03rd Oct 2024 11:45
Image via Riot Games
Riot Games shuts down 'extra fake' Deadlock competitor rumour
4chan strikes again.
03rd Oct 2024 11:45
Image via Riot Games
Heading into 2025, Riot Games has its fingers in a lot of pies. The fabled League of Legends developer is capitalising on every opportunity to expand its Runeterra universe and that of VALORANT, making a range of new games and cinematic adaptations.
Already, we know Arcane is coming to a thrilling conclusion with Season 2 and opening up the chance for the series to delve into the lore of more characters.
On the gaming front, 2XKO will see champions kick the living life out of each other in a new fighting platformer, the MMORPG codenamed Project F is undergoing an intense surgical procedure, another tactical FPS named Project T is rumoured, and the Minecraft-esque survival game Hytale is still in the lab after its 2021 delay. Oh, and there's all that VALORANT expansion stuff...
However, there has been one rumour that has been immediately shut down, as recent reports claiming that Tencent backed Riot with $200m to develop a Deadlock competitor have been smacked away.
Riot Games denies claims that a Tencent-backed $200m Deadlock competitor is in the works
Reports emerged yesterday from prolific 4chan leaker Pirat_Nation that Tencent has issued a grant to Riot Games worth $200m for the purpose of developing a new hero shooter to compete with Valve's popular arena-MOBA Deadlock.
Given Riot Games and Valve's interesting and historic competition - VALORANT vs Counter-Strike and LoL vs DotA - this was seen as quite feasible to fans, but Riot Games is having none of it.
Director of Corporate Comms at Riot Games, Joe Hixson, said, "I see lots of crazy rumors, but this extra fake."
"Tencent doesn't fund our dev like this...that’s not how this works…that’s not how any of this works," he continued. "There's a lot cooking in R&D, but nothing like Deadlock."
Despite being in an Early Access stage, Deadlock has been an instant success. It would be a rather Riot thing to do to go toe-to-toe with Valve again, but it appears that the studio is more than happy with the projects that it is already cooking.
There could be a chance that such a game was theorised, as we know Riot Games did have even more projects in the tank before moving on with its current crop of games, as seen by the scrapped Smash Bros rival that fell on Multiversus' sword.
Still, there's plenty to enjoy coming from the Riot end in the next year or two, and Valve's Deadlock could be so big that anyone competing with it could get instantly dwarfed *cough Overwatch cough*.
About The Author
Jack Marsh
Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.
