Riot Games is pumping the brakes on one of the most requested features in "League of Legends" history.
What was originally teased as a near-term addition to the game's communication tools is now being held back, leaving players who had circled the date on their calendars with a longer wait ahead.
'League of Legends' Team Voice Chat Gets Delayed
Riot Games confirmed through its official LoLDev account on X that Team Voice, the long-awaited full team voice chat feature for "League of Legends," is being delayed and will no longer arrive alongside its originally planned update.
The announcement follows a September Dev Update where Riot had laid out detailed plans for the feature, including moderation tools, noise cancellation, and a tiered rollout starting with specific regions before expanding further.
Team Voice was designed to expand voice communication beyond premade parties, letting every member of a team talk to each other directly in-game rather than relying entirely on third-party apps like Discord.
The feature was also set to require players to reach Honor Level 3 before gaining access, part of Riot's broader effort to keep moderation and toxicity concerns in check as voice communication opens up to random teammates rather than just friends.
Hey everyone, wanted to get this out separate from today’s Patch Notes. We announced Team Voice as coming to NA/OCE in Patch 26.20, but made the call to push it to meet the quality bar you deserve. No new target patch to share yet, but we’re making this a priority to get right.
— League of Legends Dev Team (@LoLDev) September 22, 2026
Patch 26.20 Is Not Getting Team Voice Chat
Patch 26.20 marks the start of League of Legends Season 26 Act 2, and Team Voice was originally meant to headline that update alongside several other changes tied to the patch's musical theme. According to Riot's Dev Update, Act 2 was set to bring new music reveals along with League Classic changes, including five additional champions joining the mode: Fiora, Xin Zhao, Poppy, Shyvana, and Galio, with more like Graves expected shortly after.
The same update also detailed a musically themed refresh for ARAM Mayhem, introducing new in-match bands players would encounter while spawning in, alongside additional missions and augments tied to the event.
Ranked 5s was set to return as well, bringing a new drafting phase that lets players see an opposing team's most played champions before locking in bans, along with extended weekend play windows. With Team Voice now pulled specifically from this lineup, the rest of Act 2's content, including the Classic updates, ARAM Mayhem changes, and Ranked 5s improvements, remains on track to launch as originally planned.
Riot Games to Still Prioritize Feature
Despite the delay, Riot has continued to describe Team Voice as one of its priority features for the game moving forward, rather than something being shelved indefinitely, as per Engadget.
The feature has already gone through a lengthy development process, with Riot first publicly confirming work on in-game voice chat years ago before repeatedly pushing back timelines as the team worked through concerns around moderation and player safety.
Given how central toxicity concerns have been throughout development, from requiring a minimum Honor Level to building in dedicated voice moderation tools, it appears Riot would rather take additional time to get the system right than rush a flawed version out with patch 26.20.
Players hoping to finally talk to their full team without leaving the client will now need to wait for Riot to share a new timeline for when Team Voice actually goes live.
