Overwatch Classic has just been announced, why is League of Legends the odd one out?

Overwatch 2 just announced a limited time event for 3 weeks where the game will be exactly as it was when it released in 2016. With this announcement Overwatch will join World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Fortnite in the club of prominent live service games that released a classic mode.

Yet despite League of Legends being over 15 years old and despite incredible demand from players Riot has never expressed interest in releasing League of Legends Classic, even as a limited time event akin to Overwatch.

Why is this? There is no reason to believe that, if it did exist, League of Legends Classic would not also attract a record number of players, because I can say with absolute certainty that Overwatch 2 will report record player numbers when Classic is released.

There are countless players who have moved on in the last 12 years because of subsequent changes. It would be an incredible opportunity for Riot to bring back old players and learn how the current game could be improved.

While I was writing this Fortnite announced that its classic mode would be coming back permanently. Even more pressure on Riot to act.