A fascinating piece of gaming history has emerged from the archives, revealing what League of Legends looked like before it became one of the most popular video games in the world. Popular League of Legends content creator Necrit, in collaboration with Riot Games employee Paul “Pabro” Bellezza, has unearthed the original investor pitch for the game from 2007, when it bore the dramatically different title “Onslaught: War of the Immortals.” The discovery offers an unprecedented look at the early vision for what would eventually become a cultural phenomenon with over 150 million monthly players worldwide.
The pitch materials include video footage, design documents for several champions, lore breakdowns, and screenshots that paint a picture of a vastly different gaming experience. While some elements had previously leaked online over the years, this comprehensive look provides new details that even dedicated fans had never seen. The timing of the original pitch coincides with an era when Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer” was climbing the music charts, lending perspective to just how much both gaming and popular culture have evolved since then.
A Completely Different Vision for the Game
The early version of the game is almost unrecognizable compared to modern League of Legends. Instead of the familiar Summoner’s Rift map—an open battlefield with lanes, jungle areas, and neutral objectives—the original concept featured a cartoony cityscape divided between “order” and “chaos” realms. This faction-based approach would have required players to declare allegiance to one side when they began playing, fundamentally changing how the community would have developed. Certain heroes were even designed as exclusive to specific factions, a mechanic that was ultimately abandoned in favor of the more flexible champion selection system players know today.
Perhaps most intriguing was the concept of “immortals”—customizable characters that players could temporarily summon during climactic moments in battle. This mechanic suggests the developers were initially envisioning something closer to a hero-summoning strategy game rather than the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) format that eventually took shape. The genre itself was still being defined at the time, with Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a Warcraft III mod, serving as the primary inspiration for developers Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill when they founded Riot Games in 2006.
Familiar Faces in Unfamiliar Forms
While examining the pitch materials, eagle-eyed fans can spot early versions of champions that would eventually become iconic. Annie, the Dark Child, appears with her signature flaming teddy bear companion Tibbers, though her visual design differs substantially from her current appearance. The champion Sion, now a hulking undead juggernaut, was depicted with an orange beard—a far cry from his current intimidating aesthetic. One champion ability description for a character called “Xizun, the blind monk” (who would later become Lee Sin) humorously described his passive as making him “built like a brick wall on roids,” showcasing the more casual development atmosphere of the era.
Interestingly, the champion Singed appears to be the only character who remained relatively unchanged throughout development, though he inexplicably bore the name “Zij” in the original pitch. This continuity is remarkable given how dramatically most other aspects of the game transformed. The evolution of these characters reflects broader shifts in gaming aesthetics and design philosophy over the past two decades, as the industry moved away from the edgier, more exaggerated style common in mid-2000s game development.
Dark Lore and Early 2000s Edge
The original lore presented in the investor pitch reflects the edgier storytelling sensibilities prevalent in gaming during 2007. According to the materials, the two factions existed in neutral coexistence until “an antichrist of sorts” was born, subsequently tearing a hole in reality so massive that chaos now threatens to consume all existence. The Riot Games logo in the pitch video was even depicted drenched in blood—a stark contrast to the more polished, corporate branding the company employs today. This tonal shift mirrors the broader maturation of the gaming industry, which has moved toward more nuanced narratives and sophisticated world-building.
The discovery comes at a particularly relevant time, as Riot Games recently launched League of Legends Classic, allowing players to experience the game as it existed in earlier seasons. However, as Necrit noted with amusement, even that nostalgic offering doesn’t go back far enough to capture the truly primordial state of the game. “We have not achieved true classic-ification until Sion has a highlighter-orange beard and nobody recognizes a single aspect of the game,” he quipped, highlighting just how dramatically League of Legends evolved from its conceptual origins to the polished experience millions enjoy today.
Expert Opinion: This discovery underscores how dramatically successful games can evolve from their initial concepts, often bearing little resemblance to their original pitches. The transformation from Onslaught to League of Legends represents not just aesthetic refinement but fundamental shifts in game design philosophy that helped define the MOBA genre. For aspiring developers and industry historians alike, these materials serve as a valuable reminder that even the most successful products often emerge from radically different starting points.
