League of Legends Mac edition shelved

The Mac version of League of Legends, which began semi-public testing last year, is to be discontinued this week following trouble keeping it up to date with the PC edition. Developer Riot Games still hopes to bring the DotA-'em up to Mac in the future, but it won't be any time soon.

"So far we have been unable to ensure a consistent quality bar across platforms," Riot explains. Riot itself frequently issues patches on PC but the Mac edition is developed externally at TransGaming, often leaving LoL outdated and unavailable on Mac.

We are regretfully going to shut down the Mac Beta client indefinitely starting 12:00 AM PT on September 6, 2011. We realize our current approach regarding the Mac platform won't guarantee the quality and frequent updates we deliver today on the PC and are expected by our player community. We will continue to investigate the opportunity to provide player access on the Mac Platform in the future that aligns with our service and content update standards. We are committed to building a solution that will work on the Mac in the long run, but it will take some time.

If you've been playing LoL on Mac and made any purchases from the in-game store, you can either keep using them through the Windows edition or get a refund (if you have don't mind having your account shut down). As a thank-you to testers, those who've played mostly on Mac can claim a free code to unlock the Champions Pack if you log in on Mac before the beta closes.

The Mac shutdown comes as Riot prepares to launch Dominion mode, a capture-and-hold game type intended to deliver shorter, more intense bursts of LoL.