Along with winning four Emmy Awards in 2022, including for Best Animated Program, “Arcane” was the top TV show in 85 countries on Netflix.
Still, this second season is set to be the last, even though it was originally planned for five seasons. It’s also the only TV or film project created by Riot Games, the company behind “Arcane.” About five years ago, Riot, based in Los Angeles, set out to expand into scripted entertainment.
Riot, best known for creating the “League of Legends” franchise, brought on executives from major media companies to help build an entertainment division aimed at producing live-action and animated TV shows and movies based on Riot’s creations.
Then-CEO Nicolo Laurent was clear about his vision, even calling it the “entertainment company of the 21st century” in an interview.
But despite these big goals, Riot has little to show beyond “Arcane,” which sources say cost about $250 million for 18 episodes, making it the most expensive animated series on any streaming or TV platform. According to sources familiar with the company, Riot’s limited experience in entertainment production led to these high costs and missed goals.
Even so, Riot co-founder and chief product officer Marc Merrill confirmed the company’s commitment to producing high-quality film and TV but admitted there’s been a learning curve.
“Our entertainment goals remain the same,” Merrill said. “We never planned to operate like a typical studio. But as we learned more, we realized getting it right takes a lot more time than we thought, so we adjusted our goals and teams accordingly.”
When asked about the $250 million price tag, Merrill didn’t confirm the amount but said, “We’re comfortable with what we spent to create a show that’s worthy of our players’ time.”
Despite its setbacks in Hollywood, Riot Games has been a powerhouse in the gaming industry since launching “League of Legends” in 2009, a free-to-play online multiplayer PC game that now attracts 180 million monthly players globally (including related spinoffs).
While playing “League” costs nothing, the bulk of Riot’s estimated $3 billion revenue last year came from selling in-game “skins” (virtual items), a common revenue model in live-service games.
Riot has also expanded into esports and music from its large Santa Monica headquarters, which sprawls across several buildings. A few years back, Riot was among the largest office renters in Los Angeles, with buildings featuring its logo—a closed fist—along Olympic Boulevard.
The idea for “Arcane” came from Christian Linke and Alex Yee, who were members of Riot’s player support team with no production experience. In 2016, Riot gave them the go-ahead to create a pilot with Fortiche, a Paris-based animation studio that had worked with Riot on music videos and other short projects.
According to sources, the first nine 40-minute episodes of “Arcane” cost over $80 million, while the upcoming second set of nine episodes will cost close to $100 million. Insiders say the high costs were driven by a labor-intensive approach and delays due to late script deliveries, which led to extra expenses after production started with only part of the season written.
What stood out even more than production costs was Riot’s $60 million spent to promote the first season of “Arcane”—much more than typical for a show not directly distributed by the company and significantly more than Netflix spent. While second-season marketing costs aren’t confirmed, they’re expected to be lower.
For a company that earns billions with slim margins on virtual goods, these expenses didn’t stop Riot from pushing into Hollywood. Inspired by “Arcane”’s success, former CEO Nicolo Laurent viewed expansion into entertainment as a way to boost Riot’s value and diversify its brand, similar to how the company successfully branched “League” into esports.
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