Anticipation for Vaporware
Riot MMO (announced December 2020, reset 2023) is League of Legends universe MMORPG that Riot Games has been “developing” for 5+ years with minimal updates. #RiotMMOHopium represents gaming community’s desperate hope for MMO genre revival despite mounting evidence of troubled development.
December 2020: Riot confirmed MMO in development; Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street (ex-World of Warcraft) leading
Hype: Riot’s track record (League, Valorant, Arcane), fantasy MMO drought (WoW declining, New World flopped), massive existing lore
Updates: Virtually none; occasional vague tweets
January 2024: Ghostcrawler announced creative reset - “We weren’t making something worth playing”
Community: “Hopium” (hope + opium) - knowing it’s likely years away or canceled but desperately wanting MMO revival
MMO curse: Genre’s high development costs, long timelines, changing player expectations make success rare
Comparisons: Star Citizen (eternal development), Ashes of Creation (years of delays)
The hashtag represents gaming’s simultaneous cynicism about and desperation for ambitious projects - knowing disappointment likely but hoping anyway.
Sources:
https://www.pcgamer.com/