Former World of Warcraft producer reunites with another WoW vet on Riot's League of Legends MMO: "I have a feeling we’ll be moving fast on day one"

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Former World of Warcraft producer reunites with another WoW vet on Riot's League of Legends MMO: "I have a feeling we’ll be moving fast on day one" News By Dustin Bailey published 20 January 2026

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We just got our first major update for the year on Riot's long (long, long) awaited League of Legends MMO, as former World of Warcraft producer Raymond Bartos has announced that he's joined the project. Bartos's announcement highlights his reuniting with engineer Orlando Salvatore, after the two worked together on some of the better-received features of modern WoW, including Plunderstorm and the gear update.

"From my very first conversation with Riot," Bartos says on Twitter, "I immediately gravitated toward their values—and I was genuinely impressed by how clearly those values showed up throughout the interview process. It made it obvious that kindness, respect, and care aren’t just words here, but something the team truly lives by."

Bartos is taking on the title of senior game producer on Riot's MMO, having previously worked as lead producer on WoW. In his farewell message to Blizzard last year, he noted that it "was an honor to help ship Plunderstorm, multiple Remixes, Gear update, Dungeon Followers, holidays, the 20th Anniversary, and events like Dastardly Duos."

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Many of those features are also on the credits list of former WoW lead software engineer, Orlando Salvatore, and Bartos notes that he's particularly excited to work alongside him once again. "Given our track record on World of Warcraft, I have a feeling we’ll be moving fast on day one."

Yearly reminders that Riot does, indeed, have at least some intention of making an MMO have become something of a meme at this point, given how long the project's continued to stretch on. Will we someday finally see an actual game at the end of all this? Only time will tell.

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Dustin BaileySocial Links NavigationStaff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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