League of Legends is breaking apart at the seams as match-end bug requires client relaunch

It’s long been known that League of Legends has more spaghetti in its code than an Italian bistro, but like an awkward person in a green-text story, the spaghetti is finally falling out of the game’s pockets and spilling all over the floor as the game starts to break apart.

While there’s a few reasons that’s the case, the chief symptom at the moment is Riot Games' current recommendation that players restart the Riot Client after every match. But is this a sound technical work around, a temporary fix for a problem that will be solved soon, or is it an admission that the game's core systems are reaching the brink?

The current issues with the Riot Games client have reportedly stemmed from initial claims that there were large spikes in remakes during games in the past week. On July 18, product and strategy worker at Riot Games and defacto spokesman Drew Levin shared a diagnostic of the situation.

As per Levin, the issue seemingly stems from matches that do not properly terminate in the background after they end. Although players return to the post-game lobby, the client can continue to behave as though the previous match is still active for several minutes (as many as 10 minutes according to Levin).

If a player immediately queues for another game, there is a risk that the next match will fail to load correctly because the client still believes the user is connected to the previous session. The practical solution has become closing the entire client and launching it again between games, something highlighted in an in-game ticker in the League of Legends client.

Reportedly, the issues manifest more in machines with between 8 and 16 gigabytes of RAM. While 16GB of RAM is largely enough to run even the latest AAA releases of video games, it seems 15+ year old League of Legends needs a little more to stay stable.

A quick search has found that similar problems with a need to restart have existed since all the way back in 2014 for some lower spec computers (dating back to the first major graphical overhaul to the game). It’s unknown if the latest problem is related to those older issues.

This unusual requirement of restarting just to get games to start exists alongside a growing list of client-related complaints. The Masteries page frequently fails to open, forcing players to repeatedly retry or restart the client. The in-game shop has reportedly caused crashes for some players, while overall client performance continues to be a common criticism.

Many players joke that League now requires CAD workstation-level hardware simply to achieve a smooth experience outside of matches.

Underlying these frustrations are long-standing concerns about the game's technical architecture. According to community discussions, and unconfirmed reports from Rioters and those familiar with the game, Champion skins are implemented as effectively separate entities within the game's codebase rather than simple visual modifications. As the number of champions, skins, and alternate game modes continues to grow, so does the complexity of maintaining the system.

Remember as well, that the League client is now set to contains three distinct separate games: The main League of Legends experience, Team Fight Tactics, and League Classic. The Riot Client also launches VALORANT and Legends of Runeterra.

The recent introduction of League Classic adds even more content to support, while rumors of a future migration to Unreal Engine suggest Riot may eventually pursue ‘burn it to the ground and rebuild from scratch' solution. Until then, players are left dealing with a client that increasingly feels held together with spit and glue.

Is it time for League of Legends 2 then? Ultimately, if the game can't run without needing 32gb of RAM and a full restart every time you play a match, it might be time to put it out to pasture. Or at least get things back to a state where the majority of players can make it past two loading screens without issues.