Riot devs confirm TFT move to stand-alone Unreal Engine client

A day after a job listing seemingly leaked the fact Team Fight Tactics, the popular League of Legends auto battler would receive a new Unreal Engine remake, Riot Games has confirmed they’re working on a stand-alone version of the game.

The reveal showcases how much Team Fight Tactics has grown, from a reactionary bandwagon jump by Riot on the auto battler craze kicked off by Auto Chess, into a monster perhaps comparable in popularity to League of Legends itself.

TFT to move to stand-alone client in October

Rumors of a move to a stand-alone client for TFT emerged on June 12 with Riot Games posting a listing for a user experience design director for the game on their careers website. In the job description the company outlined a “transition to the Unreal Engine,” heavily implying an new separate client.

For reference, the current League of Legends client is built within a proprietary game engine created by Riot Games, known as the Hextech Engine.

Later in the day, Riot Games confirmed that TFT would be going stand-alone with a new developer vlog posted on their TFT YouTube Channel. In it the team confirmed a move to the Unreal Engine and a new client for the auto battler. That post was also expanded on by a longer blog post.

The move seemingly highlights the current restrictions of the League of Legends client. Often criticized by long-time players for its instability, the LoL client has in many ways been a restrictive limit for TFT fans. A move to UE would effectively give more freedom for developers, but also give Riot access to the development skills of hundreds of potential designers as the Unreal Engine is one of the most utilized game engines in the world.

However, critics have been quick to point out that a move to a stand-alone client would eliminate some players' access to the boons that TFT allowed. For instance, many players used TFT as a way to progress their seasonal event passes in LoL, instead of playing the MOBA element.

Additionally, TFT gave players access to the Little Legend avatars used in the autobattler and other game modes. Riot confirmed after the move to a stand-alone UI, Little Legends wouldn’t be able to use Little Legends in modes like ARAM.

Overall, the move seems like a mixed bag. Riot confirmed in their blog post that the new Unreal Engine stand alone client will arrive in October. It’s unknown if League of Legends itself will make the move to UE in the future, or if this change is just for TFT.