The shutdown of Riot Forge was bemoaned by critics, who praised the publishing label for supporting indie developers and allowing non-competitive players to become immersed in the series' lore.

They blamed a lack of marketing or attention from the company for apparent poor sales of the games, noting that many players had no idea the spin-offs even existed.

The main League of Legends game was not seen as an effective vehicle for storytelling, leaving the lore of the series to be told in blurbs on the studio's website.

[2] The label's final two games were Song of Nunu, a 3D platformer that was widely praised by critics, and Bandle Tale, a non-violent life sim.

[4] Cass Marshall of Polygon wrote that the closure of the publisher would significantly harm fans of the game by cutting off the entry point for new players.

She also criticized the removal of developers and writers who contributed to expanding on the champions, saying the lack of new lore was bad for both players and the series, and would make the fictional universe "much smaller".