MSI’s in-game announcers were a good first step to Riot adding more voices to League

In-game announcer packs have long been one of the cosmetic only items that League of Legends has been missing. Sure, they aren’t a critical feature, but it would be nice if you could change out the announcements you hear every game to be something a little more exciting than the voice everyone else hears. Other MOBAs like Dota 2 have had a variety of announcers since they were in early access, and it begs the question of why exactly Riot hasn’t added the feature to League.

The most likely reason behind Riot’s hesitation to add new announcers to the game is probably clarity. Information in League needs to be conveyed in the quickly and efficiently and the idea that some players might get their information differently, or in a different amount of time, might be been an uncomfortable one for Riot. At least, that seemed like the case before the Mid-Season Invitational this year.

In celebration of MSI, Riot released a brand new announcer pack that includes the voices of some of the community’s favorite casters doing the in-game announcements. With Sam “Kobe” Hartman-Kenzler and David “Phreak” Turley in North America and Trevor “Quickshot” Henry and Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere taking over for Europe, the experience of professional play got just a step or two closer to solo queue. But there’s so much more that Riot can do with in-game announcers than just esports.

While it’s nice to hear the familiar esports voices in-game, hearing your favorite champion make the announcements would be even more exciting. With over 130 champions who — mostly — have their own unique personalities, Riot has a massive pool of talent and character to choose from if they decide to add a few more announcers to the game. Sure, it wouldn't work for everyone, and more than a few champions probably wouldn’t get one until they get a full rework, but that still leaves a huge roster of available characters.

Allowing players to buy announcer packs from champions like Jhin or Zoe or Tahm Kench who could add their own unique personality would help spice up some of the in-game messages players have heard thousands of times. Meanwhile, players who prefer to stick to what they’re used to could simply choose not to buy the packs. As for clarity, in-game voice line already happen at a completely different volume than the larger announcements so it’s unlikely that an overlap in voices would cause any confusion.

With this year’s Mid-Season Invitational bringing esports casters in-game, Riot took a big first step in giving players a little more variety in their announcers. Now it can’t be long before we get to here our favorite champions letting us know how our games are going.