It had been expected for several months and known for a few weeks already, but it is now official:
Royal Never Give Up are
leaving League of Legends and the LPL after eleven years in China’s Tier 1. The organization is the most successful team in Mid-Season Invitational history with
three titles and has won the
LPL five times.
In mid-November, the league had bought back FunPlus Phoenix’s slot, confirming FPX’s exit from the league. As for RNG, all signs pointed to them not fielding a roster this year, as they did not participate in the 2025 LDL Split 3. At the beginning of January,
the LPL announced its format for the 2026 season with the visual only featuring 14 team logos, without RNG.
RNG’s departure is largely due to the organization drowning in an unprecedented financial and legal quagmire, with former star players suing the team in Chinese courts for millions in unpaid wages. Retirements of key players and poor replacement decisions also weakened both competitive performance and contractual relationships with partners.
Farewell, Royals
This, therefore, marks the end of one of the most iconic organizations in Chinese history and in the entire history of
LoL. Legendary players have passed through RNG, including Jian "
Uzi" Zi-Hao, Li "
Xiaohu" Yuan-Hao, Cho "
Mata" Se-hyeong, Liu "
Mlxg" Shi-Yu, Choi "
inSec" In-seok, Chen "
GALA" Wei, Chen "
Bin" Ze-Bin, and Yan "
Wei" Yang-Wei.
Having joined in Summer 2015, the team found immediate success with a Spring 2016 victory, a semifinal at MSI, a Summer final, and a quarterfinal at Worlds. It was in 2018 that the team truly made its mark internationally: after winning the LPL Spring, they lifted the MSI trophy by defeating Kingzone DragonX.
In 2021, RNG repeated the feat with a victory in the final against DWG KIA, before completing a
back-to-back in 2022, defeating T1 3-2.
At Worlds, however, the team always struggled a bit more. Their best result came in 2017, a semifinal loss to SKT T1. That wasn’t their only disappointment: in 2018, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by G2 Esports, in 2016 by SKT T1 in the quarters, along with several other defeats that prevented the organization from ever truly performing on the biggest stage in the world.
Fewer and Fewer Teams in the LPL
Since 2020, the LPL had reached its peak in terms of team numbers, with 17 teams competing. In 2025, the departure of Rare Atom reduced that to 16. The Chinese league had then announced that the bottom teams from Split 2 would not play in Split 3 and would be relegated to the LDL, the academy league.
These were
Oh My God and RNG. The former are returning in 2026, but the Royals have given up. This system will be maintained in 2026, as the last two teams during Split 2 among the 14 participants will not compete in the third split, joining the LDL for the rest of the year.
