Riftbound Digital Edition: Riot Games hints at an online version for the TCG

Here's everything we know about the Riftbound digital game and whether it's coming to the Riot Launcher in the near future.

Riot Games' TCG, Riftbound, looks to be off to a very promising start indeed. Translating dozens of popular League of Legends champions into a card game is something the company has done before (more on that soon), but its multiplayer format and impressive wave of strategies make it somewhat unique among the genre's contemporaries, even at this early stage.

The cards are also easier to get which means more people can play the game, but going into Radiance (the fifth set of the game) many are starting to wonder if we can get a digital version of the game to play with friends around the world.

Here's everything we know about the Riftbound digitization so far.

The answer here seems to be at least ultimately positive. The State of the Game post from August of this year included a quick reference to digital gameplay by game director Dave Guskin.

"I'm so excited to build a game architecture (and frankly a lifestyle) worthy of our incredible community," Gaskin said.

Some of those things include more exciting ways to engage and reach your local store or group of friends, and some of those things include offering more ways to play in different new ways – being at big events, at new product launches, and yes, digitally.

Gaskin qualified the statement by saying, "No, we don't have any announcements, but we're thinking about it."

That same month, a job listing for "Publishing Product Manager" was activated, specifically calling for applicants with digital gaming experience and familiarity with or experience with TCGs.

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There are many challenges to setting up a Riftbound digital client, though perhaps not as much as Magic's Commander format.

It's played with up to four players, and you'll have to work in some cams, though that's something Riot has experienced between League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and VALORANT.

Unlike Magic, which has decades of cards to get to, Riftbound can also focus on the current card rotation.

Oh boy does this one bite Legends of Runeterra was the first attempt at a League of Legends card game and is purely a digital experience.

It launched in 2020, with Riftbound's Dave Gaskin working as one of its directors. Available on Windows, iOS, and Android, the game is a great card battler that is, in many ways, overly generous with new cards.

It's still available, but updates have slowed to a crawl and are now mostly focused on Path of Champions - a sort of single-player roguelike mode.

Why do we bring it up? Because a lot of card art and even card names from Legends of Runeterra found their way into Riftbound, even though the latter is based on completely different mechanics.

If Riot leans on Riftbound as a digital TCG, it could be the final nail in Legends of Runeterra's coffin - which would be very sad, especially considering it's sitting at 87 on Metacritic.

Lloyd Combs is an experienced tech, gaming and fitness freelancer who has been featured in Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He is a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's chagrin.