League of Legends: Wild Rift is the mobile version of the popular MOBA title, League of Legends, that is currently in its open beta phase across several countries around the world. One of the regions that haven't been included within these various open betas is a region that arguably has one of its largest player base; The Americas.
When Wild Rift was first announced, Riot Games had planned on including North and South America in its open beta program during a Spring 2021 release. As other countries enjoyed their respective open betas, savvy players relied on the usage of VPNs to bypass country restrictions and play on servers that were outside of their country. As the release date for the anticipated beta draws near, Riot released a video addressing the VPN users as well as incentives to bring the Americas up to speed with the rest of its player base.
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A three-minute announcement from communications lead Ben "Draggles" Forbes, thanked players for their patience in awaiting the Americas open beta for Wild Rift. As the open beta is meant to determine the network stability between North and South America, only players from those countries are able to participate. For those who have been using VPNs to play in other open betas, players will have to migrate their account to the Americas, losing their progress and starting from level 1. All purchases made will be refunded at "some point after the game is launched."
While the progress made in Wild Rift for some players will be lost, Riot acknowledging the players who have found "workarounds in order to play their game" and offering an ultimatum is an act of good faith. In the past, other developers such as Valve had penalized players for switching their region, an act that Riot could have done easily. However, the reset of one's progress to even the playing field for the rest of its players is but a slap on the wrist.
League of Legends: Wild Rift will release sometime in 2021 on mobile devices.