League of Legends will be changing its system requirements in February 2024, Riot Games has announced through its latest Dev Update.
Starting in February 2024, League of Legends will no longer support some major operating systems. Players who still use some versions of Windows must update their computers in order to access the game. This is the first time, since its release in 2009, that League of Legends has changed these requirements.
New visuals and updates lead to system requirement changes
The latest visual updates likely play a role in Riot’s decision to update its system requirements for League. These changes mean that players will no longer be able to run League of Legends properly on hardware that is using Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 as its operating system. But why make that change now?
New system requirements changes in League are a scary subject for many players, but they shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise. Over the years, League of Legends has established a regular update schedule wherein most every two weeks, the game releases a new patch. Despite the frequency, these updates are often large in scope. Each patch addresses champion and item balance, sometimes even adding temporary game modes. One of the biggest projects Riot Games has taken on is its visual update for champions.
The visual updates to the champions range from the model and kit to the skill icons and VFX. Some champions that have seen these updates are Udyr, Caitlyn, and Varus. According to the developers, the change is fundamental to keep improving the stability and performance of the game, which is also in consideration with the revised system requirements. The better the game looks, the more that is expected from players’ systems and hardware.
The latest changes in League system requirements goes into effect with patch 14.4, scheduled for release in February 2024.
Riot says League of Legends committed to being free-to-play
In its Dev Update, Riot Games shared its business model and its plans to keep League of Legends free-to-play moving forward.
Back in August, Riot faced backlash from the community after the release of Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin. Labeled as a Mythic Chroma, Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin could only be obtained through a gacha system. To guarantee the drop, players would have to spend at least $200 USD, a hefty price tag for a chroma, much less a new skin.
Four months later, the developer is finally addressing the debacle.
“With that said, there’s no way that a $200 skin in League can be fully 10x better than a $20 skin… mostly because we can’t add 10x the features of a Legendary without utterly destroying gameplay clarity,” head of business & insights Drew “just a capybara” Levin wrote. “The bar should still be high, though, and we know Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin fell short.”
Riot is now introducing the concept of Luxury Goods, which are skins and chromas on the more expensive side for those who want to spend additional money on the game. The new Luxury Goods are intended to enhance the visual experience without affecting LoL’s gameplay.
Riot further expressed that it remains committed to keeping League of Legends a free-to-play game. According to Levin, winning should be about how good each player plays in-game and not how much money they spend. This might also link to the game’s updated system requirements, as Riot wants everyone playing the game to have an equitable experience.
