The League of Legends: Wild Rift open beta is launching in the Americas in March

Riot Games is planning to launch the League of Legends: Wild Rift open beta in the Americas in March 2021.

Announced in October 2019 for mobile and consoles, Wild Rift offers competitive 5v5 gameplay akin to the PC version of League of Legends “but totally rebuilt from the ground up for new platforms”.

Its open beta for iOS and Android devices launched in Asia and Europe in late 2020.

“We also know many of you are still waiting to play Wild Rift and it’s taking us a little longer than we planned to get it out to you all, so here’s an update on our open beta rollout plans for the next few months,” the game’s design director Brian Feeney said in a video update on Friday.

“We’re aiming to start service in the Americas in March. We’re currently working on ways to make sure you get access to a bunch of champions quickly when you join so you can start building up your competitive pool. We’ll have more details soon and we can’t wait for you to start playing.”

Feeney added: “When developing Wild Rift, we aim to create an experience that is authentic to League, keeping things just the same when it makes sense.

“As you’ve likely seen, we’ve also made some changes to champions, skins and the map to make sure things feel great for Wild Rift players.”

Wild Rift currently has around 50 champions and Feeney said Riot’s goal is to release an average of two new ones every month.

“When choosing which champs to bring to Wild Rift, we primarily focus on the ones who can expand on the gameplay and thematics that we’re currently missing,” he explained.

In terms of additional game modes, Feeney said Riot is “working on our version” of All Random All Mid, or ARAM, and that players will be able to help test it out later this year.

Wild Rift’s first official ranked season will also be starting “soon”.

Further reading

New League of Legends: Wild Rift gameplay revealed

Game releasing this year for mobile ahead of console version