So close and yet so far…
League of Legends players may have rejoiced after Riot Games announced that team voice chat was finally coming to the popular MOBA. Turns out the party was short-lived. Just two weeks after announcing the feature was coming to select regions in October’s 26.20 patch, Riot’s development team posted on social media that the addition of voice chat had been delayed. And, unfortunately for the Lol For players who have already waited 17 years for this option, there is no revised timeline for its arrival in the game. The studio did not give a reason for the delay, only stating that it was “to reach the quality bar” that its community deserves.
Hey everyone, I wanted to post this separately from today’s patch notes. We announced the arrival of Team Voice to NA/OCE in patch 26.20, but we decided to push it to reach the quality bar you deserve. No new target patches to share yet, but we’re making it a priority to get it right.
– League of Legends Development Team (@LoLDev) September 22, 2026
It’s possible that the reversal was due to moderation issues. Lol is a game known for its toxic in-game behavior, although Riot has worked to remedy this reputation in recent years. It’s possible that the company’s initial approach to making voice chat not a complete dumpster fire, such as requiring a minimum honor level to prove a history of good in-game behavior, didn’t work as intended. It could also be that the concept of “voice skin,” allowing players to change the way they speak to their teammates, could be problematic. It may be disappointing to see the much-requested feature promised and then removed, but at least Riot is still working on an implementation.
