Riot Games Announces Plans to Integrate Discord into League of Legends and Valorant

With Discord's popularity in competitive games like League of Legends and Valorant, Riot recently announced plans to integrate the application directly into the game.

Connect with your Discord friends right in the game.

These days, it 's commonplace  for VALORANT  and  League of Legends (LoL)  players  to use Discord for in-game communication. To make inviting friends on Discord easier, Riot Games recently  confirmed the integration of Discord directly into their game clients. Players will soon be able to link their Riot and Discord accounts, inviting friends directly from their in-app list without having to alt-tab out.

The team-building link will allow players to quickly invite others via Discord servers, social media, or live streams, instead of having to invite each person individually through  League of Legends' social features,  which require players to be added to a friends list before they can play together. For many, this is a significant upgrade for smaller communities and amateur tournament organizers, helping them manage lobbies and coordinate matches more smoothly.

Currently, League of Legends  players  in North America, Canada, and Brazil can link their Riot accounts to Discord starting today. Riot plans to test and refine the system before expanding it to other regions in future updates. A similar system is also being introduced.

Through the in-game Discord, players can directly invite friends, share lobby links, and see who's playing. The rollout will begin as a beta in Brazil, followed by North America and Canada on April 21st, before expanding globally via  VALORANT  's 12.08 update on April 29th.

Concerns about Discord's data processing.

Notably, the timing of this app integration comes after Discord faced a global backlash over its age verification system, first announced last February. Initially, the company planned to require users to verify their age via facial recognition or identification, raising privacy concerns. Discord subsequently  delayed  the rollout, stating it would explore less intrusive alternatives, such as credit card verification.

These concerns could, however, impact how people perceive  Riot's new integration feature,  especially since linking accounts across platforms often raises questions about how personal data is handled.  "We only share the information necessary to implement the integration and help players make informed and timely decisions about joining their friends." 

A Riot representative shared that the information collected includes Riot ID, Discord account name, game being played, basic match details, and team size. This data is all displayed on the player's screen, therefore no other personal data will be shared. However, it remains to be seen how the controversy surrounding Discord will affect the ability of League of Legends and Valorant players to use the new linking feature.