Riot Games Teases Rune Battlegrounds TCG Exclusive to China in 2025

The League of Legends community went into a tizzy on September 10 when X (formerly Twitter) account League of Legends Leaks & News shared a teaser from Riot's Chinese team. The original tweet mentioned a global release of Rune Battlegrounds in 2025. However, Riot's chief communications head Joe Hickson said that only China could get its hands on the new TCG.

This announcement doesn't mean the door is closed for the rest of the world forever, but will depend on the TCG doing well in China before thinking about a global release. In the Chinese trailer, we saw several popular League characters, including Darius, Ahri, and Miss Fortune, which means they will likely be in the starter pack. Darius has featured in several other Riot ventures, including Legends of Runeterra — Riot's digital card game — and 2XKO, an upcoming fighting game.

Also Read: Riot Games Expanding Horizons with Project T, here's everything we know so far

This isn't the first time Riot has exclusively tested a new game in China. Wild Rift and Valorant Mobile have both had exclusive beta tests in China. Wild Rift was eventually released globally, but Riot has yet to expand the Valorant Mobile beta to other parts of the world. Rune Battlegrounds will launch in China in 2025.