Riot Games will release the physical trading card game (TCG) "Riftbound," which uses the League of Legends (LoL) intellectual property (IP), in Korea this month. It gained popularity by rising into the top tier of major TCG sales right after launch in North America, and expectations are high in Korea as interest in physical cards is rapidly growing around titles like Pokémon and One Piece. However, the fact that games Riot previously released using the LoL IP, such as "Legends of Runeterra," fell short of expectations, and that Riftbound is launching in Korea about a year later than overseas, are seen as burdens.
According to the game industry on the 4th, Riot Games will officially launch Riftbound in Korea on the 18th. Riftbound is a physical TCG based on the LoL universe, where two to four users build decks themselves and face off against opponents offline.
Riftbound first launched in North America and Europe in October last year and quickly gained a foothold in overseas markets. According to TCGplayer, a major U.S. card marketplace, Riftbound ranked fifth in total TCG transaction value in the fourth quarter of last year, and placed fifth and sixth in the first and second quarters of this year, respectively. It stayed near the top alongside established TCGs such as Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, One Piece, and Yu-Gi-Oh. The booster box for the third set, "Unleashed," released in May, ranked third in TCGplayer's sealed product sales.
◇ Domestic card game market is "booming"… targeting the LoL fandom
The recent growth of Korea's physical TCG market is seen as a positive factor for Riftbound's entry into Korea. According to karrot, a secondhand transaction platform, searches for the representative TCG "Pokémon Card" from Aug. 4 to Sept. 3 jumped 455% from the same period a year earlier, and transaction volume rose 1,371%.
During the same period, One Piece card transaction volume rose 11,783%, Digimon cards 550%, and Yu-Gi-Oh cards 88%. Interest is spreading across physical cards in general rather than being confined to specific games or IPs.
Another strength of Riftbound is that it taps into the LoL universe, which has enjoyed long-term popularity of more than 10 years in Korea. Because many users are already familiar with the characters (champions) and the universe featured in Riftbound, a new TCG faces relatively less burden to build recognition for its characters and world from scratch.
Riot Games is also rolling out strategies to convert strong LoL awareness and fandom into actual card purchases. It previously held preorders for a signature edition to commemorate the LoL World Championship of pro team T1 and will introduce a Korea-only "Ahri, the nine-tailed fox" card alongside the domestic launch. In addition to existing TCG specialty stores, it plans to use PC bangs as card sales and play spaces and operate Riftbound-dedicated spaces.
◇ Runeterra and 2XKO stumbles as precedents… physical card entry barriers also a factor
Some in the industry say Riftbound may not find domestic success as easily as hoped. That is because games using the LoL IP have had mixed results so far. Riot released the digital collectible card game (CCG) "Legends of Runeterra" in 2020 using the LoL universe, but it failed to secure as many users as expected, including in Korea. As profitability worsened, in 2024 it reduced development staff and sharply scaled back development of new PvP-focused content. This year, the fighting game "2XKO," which also used the LoL IP, failed to gain major traction, and Riot recently decided to halt new development.
The nature of the physical TCG genre may also act as a barrier to entry. Unlike digital card games, which you can enjoy immediately after downloading, players must purchase cards directly, and to enjoy matches they also need opponents and an offline space.
The roughly one-year lag behind overseas for the domestic launch is another variable. In TCGs, each new set increases the available card pool and changes the match environment, so a launch gap can create differences in card pools and play environments between domestic and overseas users.
To narrow this gap, Riot Games plans to release the second set in Korea in December and to roll out seven sets in a row in 2027, from set 3 through set 9. Starting in early 2028, it aims to align release schedules between Korea and global markets. Until the schedule gap is resolved, it will also run a separate "Korean-language Standard" rule under which only cards released in Korea can be used.
A game industry official said, "Because this is a physical TCG, people have to buy cards directly and need opponents and space to play together, so the barrier to entry will likely be higher than for general games," adding, "Given the sheer strength of domestic awareness and fandom for the League of Legends IP itself, a key variable will be how much Korea-only cards such as the T1 collection can stimulate fans' desire to collect."
The official added, "It is also important to build an environment that can convert simple collecting demand into users who actually play the game."