World of Warcraft lead producer Raymond Bartos joins Riot Games as a senior game producer. Read on to learn more about the announcement and the history behind Riot's MMO.
Raymond Bartos Joins Riot Games’ MMO Team
Former WoW Lead Producer Becomes Senior Game Producer at Riot
World of Warcraft (WoW) lead producer Raymond Bartos has joined Riot Games as a senior game producer on its upcoming League of Legends MMO, after departing Blizzard Entertainment in December 2025, where he had spent several years working on WoW.
In a LinkedIn announcement posted on January 15, Bartos said he was attracted to Riot’s culture and values during the interview process, adding that he is "deeply grateful for the opportunity to join such an inspiring group of people, and I can’t wait to get started—showing up every day to provide value for Riot gamers and help deliver an MMO experience players truly enjoy."
Bartos’ hire reunites him with Orlando Salvatore, a former WoW lead software engineer who joined Riot in October 2024 and now serves as an engineering manager on the MMO team. The two worked together on several features while at Blizzard, including aspects of WoW’s live service operations and content development.
"Given our track record on World of Warcraft, I have a feeling we’ll be moving fast on day one," Bartos wrote.
Riot's MMO Reset
and the Road Ahead
Bartos isn’t the only veteran now on Riot’s roster. The MMO team already includes former BioWare and EA developer Fabrice Condominas, who serves as executive producer. Another WoW veteran, Greg Street, was previously part of the MMO team before departing Riot in 2023 to found his own studio focused on a new MMORPG funded by NetEase.
Riot’s MMO has been in development since the project was first revealed in 2020 as a League of Legends MMORPG set in the world of Runeterra, but public updates have been rare and often vague. In 2024, the company confirmed that the project had undergone a "reset," with Riot co-founder and then chief product officer Marc "Tryndamere" Merrill saying the team would effectively be "going dark" for a significant period of time.
Merrill explained that the original vision for the MMO "wasn’t different enough from what you can play today," adding that Riot did not want to deliver "an MMO you’ve played before with a Runeterra coat of paint." As a result, the studio decided to reset development and step back from public communication while it rethinks the game’s direction.
While Riot has not offered a firm release window or any major details for the MMO, the company has reiterated that it remains committed to building a large-scale online world set in Runeterra, even if that means a much longer development cycle.
Sources:
Raymond Bartos's Official Announcement on LinkedIn
Marc Merrill's Riot MMO Update on Twitter (X)
