I
tdoesn’tmatterif
youloveorhate
LeagueofLegends,
youshouldbe
payingattentionto
RiotGames.It’s
hardnotto,actually,whenright
nowit’stakingoverbuildingsin
Paris,Singapore,andfourother
majorcities,convertingtheminto
giant,interactive,promotional
set-pieces–nottomention
displayingathree-minuteteaseron
thefacadeoftheworld’stallest
towerinDubai.FortniteandAmong
UsnowhaveLeagueofLegends
crossovers,andallofRiot’sgames
havejustbeenhitwiththeirown
waveofbigannouncements,like
LegendsofRunterra’snew
singleplayerroguelikedeckbuilder
mode.Andatthecentreofthis
comboisArcane,agorgeousand
epicnewanimatedTVseriessetin
theLeagueofLegendsworldthat
premieredjustdaysagoafterthe
LeagueWorldFinals.Riotknows
howtomakeascene.
ThelasttwoyearshaveseenRiot
evolveintosomethingmuchmore
ambitiousthanjustagamecompany:
it’sbecomingamediagiantwhere
musicvideos,animatedTVseries,
andgamesallfeedbackintoand
drawfromauniverseofcharacters
thatonedaymight–ithopes–rival
titanslikeMarvelandDC.Though
LeagueofLegendsisattheheartof
thatuniverse,itisn’tjustaboutteams
RIOT GAMES’ co-founder talks aboutitspast,
present, and ambitious future. By StevenMessnerGO ALL OUT
of five squaring off inamapdivided
into three lanes anymore.
Over the followingpages,we’re
giving you a comprehensivelookat
Riot Games and thebeastthatit’s
becoming, starting withthis
interview with co-founderMarc
Merill about Riot’s pastandfuture.
There’s a lot happeningoveratRiot
throughout November–morethan
we could cover in thisstoryalone- but as Merrill tellsme,it’sallin
service of one goal, “Todeliverthese
‘oh my god’ momentsforplayers.”
BIG SPLASH
‘Oh my god’ momentsaresomething
that Riot has becomeincreasingly
good at over the years.Fromsurprise
music videos to lavishopeningactsat
the World Finals punctuatedbygiant
CG dragons stormingthestage,Riot
has been routinely pushing
boundaries. But muchofwhat’s
happening this Novembercanbe
traced back to exactlytwoyearsago,
when Riot celebratedtheten-year
anniversary of LeagueofLegends
with an avalanche ofexciting
announcements andbigin-game
events. Arcane, LegendsofRuneterra,
Valorant, LoL’s mobileversion,an
unnamed fighting game–allofthese
were revealed duringtheanniversary
livestream, and in onefellswoopRiot
became something new.
Despite being Riot’sco-founder
alongside Brandon Beck,Merrilland
Beck no longer handletheday-to-day
operations of the company.They’reCOVER FEATURE
RIOT TV MUSIC GAMES