Arcane, the animated series based on Riot Games’ hit Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, was delayed till next year due to issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
Towards the tail end of last year, developer Riot Games announced that they were creating an animated series called Arcane, which is based on their successful competitive multiplayer title League of Legends.
Not much about the series was revealed beyond its announcement trailer, though the developer did have its heart set on a 2020 release. Unfortunately, a recent blog post from Greg Street, head of Riot’s Creative Development team, confirmed that they would be missing their mark.
The Valorant developer made the difficult decision to push Arcane back till next year, on account of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Arcane, the animated series based in the world of League of Legends, has been delayed into 2021. https://t.co/aWUtM4RXwG pic.twitter.com/szmcKDukuC
— IGN (@IGN) June 11, 2020
Ghostcrawler’s statement
Ghostcrawler (Greg Street’s in-game alias) dreadingly broke the news of Arcane’s delay via blog post on the official League of Legends website.
Street relayed that everyone at Riot was “bummed” over the news and that they were all very excited to present their first animated series. That excitement had to be restrained, however, as the health and safety of their employees needed to come first.
The creative head continued by describing the work-from-home situation and its difficulties, explaining how video meetings, while helpful, just can’t replace the feeling of being in a room filled with creative minds.
The technical issues were a whole other matter altogether, and the sum of both problems just made things that much more difficult.
Street ended his letter by communicating how happy Riot was with what they’ve accomplished this year in spite of the pandemic, and urged fans to give their new titles Valorant and Legends of Runeterra a try.
An update from @Ghostcrawler on our first animated series Arcane. https://t.co/uuHMLPtJll pic.twitter.com/r5TQgdZOnl
— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) June 10, 2020
Speculations about Arcane’s storyline
Riot’s Arcane announcement trailer doesn’t explicitly say much about the series’ plotline, but it does drop enough hints for hardcore League of Legends fans to piece together.
The YouTube video’s description reads “From the creators of League of Legends comes a new animated series about the origins of two iconic League champions—and the power that will tear them apart.”
From that, it’s safe to assume that the show will revolve around two League characters and their origin story. That’s pretty much the only thing Riot said outright.
Watching the clip, it’s easy to see that the trailer was mainly focused on two young girls, one blue-haired and the other rocking a pink hairdo. Incidentally, Ghostcrawler confirmed a few years back that the champions Jinx and Vi were, in fact, sisters.
I just realized are those supposed to be jinx and vi pic.twitter.com/7IGZYIhSnF
— hik.🌹🎸 (@HikaruRose_) October 16, 2019
To further add weight to the theory, Jinx appears towards the beginning of the trailer, and her boots, along with her creepy laugh, are the last thing viewers see.
While this is all conjuncture at this point, since Riot has yet to make an official announcement, it does seem likely that Jinx and Vi will be the main focus of Arcane.
Featured image courtesy of League of Legends