"Overwhelming demand" for League of Legends TCG Riftbound causes pre-order chaos

It's safe to say that there's a ravenous hunger for Riftbound, the League of Legends TCG that's finally getting an English release this year. Pre-orders went live earlier today, August 4, and within minutes Riftbound appeared to sell out. Fans trying to secure decks and packs of its first set, Origins, also had to fight through checkout issues and crashes on Riot's website. Now, the company has acknowledged the issues and says that it'll be "keeping a close eye on market demand" to ensure it gets in players' hands.

I remember when Riot first revealed Riftbound (then known simply as Project K) at the tail end of last year. At the time, it was a surprise to see Riot committing to transforming League of Legends into a Magic The Gathering-style card game, but on reflection, it feels like a natural fit. A huge treasure chest of characters, abilities, factions, and storylines to dive into, the world of Runeterra does make sense as a physical TCG.

The next big question, though, was whether LoL fans (or TCG enthusiasts aware of this universe through either Riot's multiplayer games or the Arcane Netflix series) would gravitate towards it. Based on today's events, I can confidently say that yes, they will.

For anyone with a Riot ID in good standing, pre-orders for Riftbound Origins went live today, and within minutes there were reports on social media of products being sold out, items being removed from baskets, checkout issues, and general website sluggishness. Within about 15 minutes of pre-orders opening, Riot had taken to X to tell fans that it was "working to resolve issues" with its online store.

Now, Riot has released a statement promising to improve its pre-order experience after it experienced "overwhelming demand" for Riftbound.

"We're humbled by the support and enthusiasm for Riftbound: Origins so far ahead of the English release," the statement reads. "Due to the overwhelming demand for our preorders, the store experienced extremely heavy traffic which resulted in loading or checkout errors for many of you. The team is looking into potential solutions to make future preorder experiences smoother. We're also keeping a close eye on market demand for Riftbound and we'll be working towards increasing supply to ensure that players have reasonable access to the product."

Riftbound is slated to fully launch on Friday, October 31. Hopefully the process of getting some packs, booster boxes, or decks won't be as scary as that date suggests.

For a TCG-inspired experience on your PC, check out some of the best card games. Alternatively, if you're a regular League of Legends player, check out what's on sale in the LoL Mythic shop right now.

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