Skip to main content

Riot Games’ titles can now be launched via the Epic Games Store

Players will be able to play Riot Games titles like League of Legends and Valorant through the Epic Games Store. In addition to that, Riot and Epic are collaborating to bring Jinx from the upcoming League of Legends animated series to Fortnite.

League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and Legends of Runeterra are now available to download on the Epic Games Store. When a player downloads these games on the Epic Games Store, they will also download the Riot Games launcher so they can directly access these games.

Jinx from League of Legends entering Fortnite.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

On the Fortnite side, Jinx from League of Legends is entering the world of Fortnite to help kick off the collaboration. Players will be able to purchase a Jinx skin in the in-game store along with Jinx-themed back bling, loading screens, sprays, and pickaxe. This will be the first official time a League of Legends‘ character will be featured in a game outside of Riot Games.

Recommended Videos

This crossover coincides with another collaboration that Riot Games has. The upcoming animated series Arcane is releasing on Netflix Saturday, November 6. This series takes place in Zaun and Piltover, two connected cities found in the world of Runeterra, where League of Legends takes place. Jinx will be a main character in Arcane, alongside her sister, Vi. Other characters that have been confirmed in the series are Heimerdinger, Caitlyn, Jayce, and Viktor.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Jinx and her related items will be available in Fortnite starting at 8 p.m. ET today, November 4. Act 1 of the animated series Arcane will be available at 10 p.m. ET on November 6.

Andrew Zucosky
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Andrew has been playing video games since he was a small boy, and he finally got good at them like a week ago. He has been in…
Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story is a bittersweet eulogy for Riot Forge
A variant key art for Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story.

Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story is a new game about getting out of your comfort zone and connecting with others. In many ways, that's also the story of Riot Forge. The publishing label pushed its corporate parent Riot Games out of its AAA design instincts to expand the world of Runterra. There's only so much narrative you can weave into something like League of Legends, and all of Riot Forge’s games offered unique perspectives that enriched this world. I found fulfillment in that strategy too, as someone who enjoys the world of Runeterra, but didn't want to play League of Legends itself. It’s a treatment that few well-known franchises get outside comic book universes, Warhammer, and Star Wars.

Unfortunately, Bandle Tale is the last of its kind for now as Riot Forge has been shuttered as part of recent Riot Games layoffs. That’s a shame, not just for League of Legends, but the video game industry at large. If nothing else, Bandle Tale is worth checking out as a bold move from a major studio, which is something that's becoming increasingly rare.
A solid sendoff
Developer Lazy Bear Games’ Bandle Tale takes place in Bandle City, home to many of the cute, furry Yordle creatures that League of Legends players are likely familiar with. This gives us our first look into their society, which is fractured when a portal network is destroyed during a party toward the start of the game. After that, it’s up to the player, who had isolated themselves for over 100 years, to reunite the portal network and find their lost friends. Like most Riot Forge titles, Bandle Tale is narrative-focused and has more of a humorous edge than the label’s other games.

Read more
League of Legends publisher Riot Games lays off over 500 employees, shutters Riot Forge
Key art highlighting Riot Forge's three League of Legends spinoffs in 2023.

League of Legends publisher Riot Games has cut 11% of its staff, resulting in 530 layoffs. The major company restructure will see the company's entire Riot Forge studio shut down and include cuts to the Legends of Runeterra development team.

Riot Games announced the move in two blog posts on its website. One details the scope of the layoffs and outlines how severance is being handled. The other goes into Riot's vision for its future, which will double down on established games like League of Legends and Valorant, as well as its upcoming fighting game Project L.

Read more
2023 was a renaissance for strategy games. Enjoy it while you can
The main male protagonist in Fire Emblem Engage.

The strategy game genre found itself in a renaissance this year -- and you might not have noticed.

Coming off the excellent Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Marvel's Midnight Suns last fall, strategy games started and ended 2023 off strong from the AAA to the indie space. Unfortunately, in such a crowded year, many of the excellent games in this niche genre flew more under the radar. If you missed out on games like Fire Emblem Engage, Pikmin 4, Wargroove 2, and Last Train Home, you're missing out on a golden age of one of gaming's best genres.
Strategic moves
Many iconic strategy game franchises came back this year, starting in January. On the Xbox front, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition finally came to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, bringing one of the best real-time-strategy titles to consoles for the first time. On Switch, Nintendo started the year off strong with Fire Emblem Engage. It served as a joyful celebration of the entire franchise, reflecting that in gameplay with the titular Engage system that allows player units to get more powerful and gain additional abilities by working with classic Fire Emblem characters.

Read more