Riot Games

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Riot Games
Riot Games Logo Light.png
Riot Games Logo Dark.png
Company Information
Headquarter:
United StatesLos Angeles
Founded:
2016
Employees:
1001-5000
Type:
Computer games
Links
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Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to create League of Legends and later developed spin-off games and the unrelated first-person shooter game Valorant. In 2011, Riot Games was acquired by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Riot Games' publishing arm, Riot Forge, oversees the production of League of Legends spin-offs by other developers. The company collaborated with Fortiche to release Arcane, a television series based on the League of Legends universe.

Riot Games operates 12 international League of Legends esports leagues, the League of Legends World Championship, and the Valorant Champions Tour. The company sells corporate sponsorships, merchandise, and streaming rights for its leagues. However, Riot has faced allegations and lawsuits regarding a toxic workplace culture, including gender discrimination and sexual harassment, and has been criticized for its use of forced arbitration in response to these allegations.

Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, the founders of Riot Games, became friends while studying business at the University of Southern California. They believed in the potential for long-term support and monetization of games, inspired by Defense of the Ancients and Asian video game designers' business models. Riot Games was established in September 2006 in Santa Monica, California, with initial funding of $1.5 million. League of Legends was released as a free-to-play game in October 2009 after several rounds of funding totaling $8 million, including investments by venture capital firms Benchmark and FirstMark Capital, as well as Tencent.

Following beta tests, Riot Games relocated its European headquarters to Dublin in May 2010. Tencent acquired a 93 percent stake in Riot Games for $400 million in February 2011, later increasing its ownership to 100 percent. In response to toxicity and harassment in League of Legends, Riot Games launched a "player behavior team" in 2012 and introduced various measures to combat harassment on its platform.

By 2013, League of Legends was the most-played multiplayer PC game globally, with over 100 million monthly players by 2016. Riot Games relocated to a new campus in western Los Angeles in 2015 and acquired Radiant Entertainment in March 2016. In October 2017, founders Beck and Merrill announced their focus on developing new games, with three longtime employees assuming leadership roles.

In October 2019, Riot Games announced new games, including League of Legends: Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra, and Project A (later revealed as Valorant). Riot Forge, a publishing label, was launched in December 2019 to partner with smaller studios for League of Legends games. Riot Games acquired Hypixel Studios in April 2020 and announced plans for a Singapore office.

Riot collaborated with Fortiche to release the animated series Arcane in November 2021. In October 2022, Riot acquired Wargaming Sydney, renaming it Riot Sydney. In January 2023, Riot suffered a cyberattack, and in September 2023, Dylan Jadeja became CEO. Riot announced layoffs of 530 employees in January 2024, citing the need for long-term focus and sustainability.


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