Riot Games confirms League Classic mode will close in January 2027

Riot Games has confirmed that League Classic, the game mode built around earlier eras of League of Legends, will shut down in January 2027, according to Esports.gg News.

Players will still be able to play the mode through the rest of Season 3 before it closes.

Riot Games developers Andrei "Meddler" van Roon and Paul "Pabro" Bellezza said the decision followed a drop-off in engagement, with Esports.gg News reporting their explanation that "most have gone back to other parts of League" after an initial wave of interest.

The pair added that Riot intends to bring the mode back eventually in a different form, stating: "We'll then put Classic back in the box for now, with the goal of bringing it back, likely as an event mode with adjustments and additions."

Ahead of the shutdown, some regions with smaller player bases will shift to windowed queues rather than running continuously, per the report.

Players on the Japan and Middle East and North Africa servers will lose access to standard League Classic matchmaking entirely from patch 26.21, with only custom matches remaining available to them.

Riot Games will issue refunds for Classic-specific content that becomes unusable once the mode winds down, and will still ship the free track of the Act II Classic Battle Pass in patch 26.21.

From that patch onwards, the in-mode store will be limited to Champions, Runes and Rune Pages only, according to the developers' statement reported by Esports.gg News.

Champion additions to League Classic will continue in the meantime, with Volibear, Urgot and Udyr all set to join the mode by patch 26.23.

Meddler and Pabro framed the mode's run as a significant undertaking for the studio, saying it was "a true labor of love from so many Rioters," and that watching players "reclaim the nostalgia, reconnect with old friends, and relive your glory days" had made the project worthwhile for the team.

Reaction from the community has been mixed, Esports.gg News reported.

Players on X criticised matchmaking problems, the absence of a traditional ranked ladder, and the pacing of champion releases within the mode, while some argued Riot had misjudged what fans actually wanted from a nostalgia-driven format.

On Reddit, commenters made similar points about missing champions and argued the mode never fully recaptured the feel of older League of Legends patches.

Several suggested Riot should have launched it as a rotating mode cycling through different past seasons rather than committing to it as a permanent fixture from the start.

For now, League Classic remains playable through the rest of Season 3, with the full shutdown taking effect in January 2027 and Riot Games signalling a possible return once the mode has been reworked based on player feedback.