macOS Catalina may not support League of Legends on release

Image via Riot

What you need to know

  • League of Legends may not work with macOS Catalina on release.
  • Riot is unsure of compatibility due to broad release date.
  • The issue will not affect users who have the game already installed, only new downloads.

Riot games has announced that users may not be able to install League of Legends on macOS Catalina upon its release. Riot has said that due to the "broad release date" of Catalina they are unsure as to whether the game will be supported. In a post yesterday it said:

Due to the broad release date, we don't know if Catalina will support League of Legends and TFT on Mac devices. If you know a Mac user who might be interested in League of Legends or TFT, get them to install it as soon as possible to be safe!Existing players with League of Legends on their Macs will not have any problems or changes with League of Legends when Catalina rolls out. The game will patch normally and players will be able to play as they have been!At this time and with what we know, people will not be able to install League of Legends on their Mac devices on Catalina. So in the meantime, if you know someone who is interested in installing League of Legends, they should do so before Catalina debuts in October OR not update their macOS to Catalina until they do.We do not currently have an estimated timeline for when Catalina will be able to support League of Legends, but we will update players as we get a clearer look at its release date.

It's important to note that this could affect both League of Legends and spinoff Teamfight Tactics, which requires the LoL client in order to play. To recap, the issue will not affect any players who already have the game installed. So, if you are a LoL player with the game installed, there's nothing to worry about. If you're about to jump into the game for the first time on Mac, Riot strongly recommends that you should download the game before you install macOS Catalina (whenever that is released).

As noted by Riot, it is unclear at this stage whether this is going to be an issue when Catalina is released. It is also unclear at this stage how long the problem might persist if indeed it does take effect. Most recent reports suggest Catalina could be released Friday, October 4, however Apple is yet to confirm a release date.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9