Riot plans to shut down fan-made Chronoshift server in LoL

Apr 29, 2021

Reading time: 2 min

League of Legends fans are worried about the future of Chronoshift, a server that allows players to access a “legacy server” for a 10-year-old version of the MOBA.

The fan-made Chronoshift server was available to fans to play for free, allowing players to access an older version of League of Legends by using code from Riot’s Content Delivery network (CDN). But four days ago, a Chronoshift developer shared on Reddit that Riot Games’ security department told them to cease running the server.

The Riot employee told the Chronoshift developers that “in the interest of keeping things brief,” they invited Chronoshift creators to contact them on Discord. In the conversation, Riot representative Zed asked Chronoshift team members to “hand over the source” of their website, as well as “all source code.”

Since Riot reached out to Chronoshift, the website has become unavailable.

An official statement ending our project:https://t.co/pLQFvzRoNJ

— Chronoshift Project (@ChronoshiftDev) April 23, 2021

Chronoshift shut down by Riot Zed

Chronoshift developers have come forward after the confrontation with Riot Zed to state that the code they used from Riot is “publicly available for download from Riot Games CDN this very moment.” This statement was made after the team was accused of “stealing” property from Riot to create the server.

The Chronoshift team also expressed “incredible disappointment” with Riot’s approach to the situation. Still, they recognized that the League of Legends developers had the right to pursue a legal resolution to the dispute. The team has since indicated that it intended to work with Riot’s legal requirements in maintaining Chronoshift, but that no longer appears to be an option. The only remaining hope for the team is that Riot might recognize the community’s interest in the project given the massive response to the news that it was being shut down.

“Our finishing thoughts go out to all the people that helped us in testing and development, and displayed tremendous passion for the project. Thanks to all of you for your support, love and dedication!” Chronoshift said on its website.