League of Legends fans vote for Udyr VGU update and Crime City Nightmare skin thematic 

As confirmed by Riot Games, Udyr and Crime City Nightmare are the winners of the League of Legends Season 2021 polls.

Ryan 'Reav3' Mireles and Eggo McLego unveiled the winners of the Season 2021 polls and revealed their plans via today's dev blog.

Gaining 37.2 percent of the global vote, Udyr will be the first champion to receive a VGU update in early 2022.

We asked and you answered: Udyr and Crime City Nightmare won the Season 2021 Champion Update and Thematic Votes!🐻🌆Details here👇https://t.co/Jqk3TAJEXR pic.twitter.com/81aHCX7meE

— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) February 1, 2021

Crime City Nightmare was the clear favorite for the next skin thematic update, with 49.6 percent of the global votes.

The theme won by a landslide in every region except for China, where Debonair was slightly more popular.

Udyr will be the first League of Legends champion to receive a VGU update in 2022

Concept sketch of Udyr (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

Most League of Legends players across the globe voted for Udyr as they wished to see their favorite "Spirit Walker" brought up to modern champion standards.

Riot confirmed that they are working on the same, and Udyr will be the first champion to receive a VGU update in 2022.

VGU voting results (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

Not only was Udyr ahead of Shyvana in global votes, but he was also far ahead of others in every region individually. The devs stated:

"The votes are in, and unlike the last VGU poll where we had two candidates extremely close, this time we have a landslide victory. The champion that won by a large margin was Udyr!"

As one of League of Legend's oldest champions, it was clear that fans wanted an update of Udyr. With every new release introducing increasingly complex gameplay over the years, Udyr’s run-and-punch mechanics always remained the same.

As mentioned by Riot's gameplay designer, Stash “Stashu” Chelluck, Udyr is on the verge of receiving a considerable change in his game mechanics. There might also be changes in his skill animations while the devs will try to maintain his stances and melee-fighter gameplay.

Riot's concept artist Justin “RiotEarp” Albers wrote on Udyr:

"He’s got tons of potential to be one of the coolest characters in the game, and I'm looking forward to exploring and figuring out what the best version of our bearded melee spirit shaman can be."

League of Legends' narrative team, led by Mary “a highwayman” Gumport, stated that they have been thinking about Udyr and his place at Runeterra for a while now. They are planning to provide him with the attention that he deserves.

Crime City Nightmare and Debonair 2.0 themes to be revealed by late 2021

Crime City Nightmare skin preview (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

Riot previously revealed that they might consider launching more than one of the listed thematics depending on results.

As there was a lot of enthusiasm for all three choices, fans can expect to see both Crime City Nightmare and Debonair 2.0 hit the Rift by the end of 2021. Monster Tamers will be arriving eventually as well.

🚨We mentioned before that we’re open to launching more than one of these thematics... So in 2021, you can expect to see both Crime City Nightmare and Debonair 2.0 hit the Rift, and we’ll continue thinking about Monster Tamers further down the line as well. pic.twitter.com/N2nerguniF

— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) February 1, 2021

However, as the poll was won by the Crime City Nightmare theme, Riot confirmed that its skins will be released sometime between July and September.

Thematic voting results (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

Thematic Development Producer, Karl “Riot LoveStrut” Abad, said:

"Fashionable crimelords making shady deals with Eldritch entities? What’s not to like? There’s a lot of exciting potential here to show a compelling horror-focused power fantasy that we haven’t explored yet. I can’t wait to see how our artists bring this eerie, sinister thematic to life. Hope we don’t go a little mad in the process..."

Riot thanked all the fans for showing unreal enthusiasm while voting for their favorite champions and themes. It was a great opportunity for the devs to connect with fans before rolling out the new season of League of Legends.