Riot Games’ ambitions in Hollywood faltered due to inexperience, resulting in $250M spent on producing 18 episodes of the Netflix series.
Arcane is set to make its Netflix comeback on Nov. 9, facing the challenge of surpassing its stellar first season, which won four Emmy Awards in 2022, including Outstanding Animated Program, and ranked as the top TV show in 85 countries worldwide.
Despite plans for a five-season storyline, Arcane’s second season has already been confirmed as its last.
Notably, it remains the sole TV or film project developed by Riot Games, even though the Los Angeles-based gaming giant charted an ambitious path into scripted entertainment nearly five years ago.
Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends and the Arcane series, recruited top-tier executives from major media firms with the vision of creating a comprehensive entertainment division.
Their aim was to produce a variety of live-action and animated TV shows and films based on Riot’s popular franchises.
Why Riot Games Struggled to Expand Its Entertainment Ventures Beyond ‘Arcane,’ the Costliest Animated Series to Date
Former CEO Nicolo Laurent emphasized his vision by boldly declaring in an interview that he was working to establish the “entertainment company of the 21st century.”
Despite all its ambitious plans, Riot has little to show beyond Arcane, which sources say cost the company around $250 million to create and market across 18 episodes, making it by far the most expensive animated series ever, both on streaming platforms and traditional TV.
According to insiders from that time, Riot’s extravagant spending and unfulfilled goals were largely due to the company’s inexperience in handling the complexities of the entertainment production process.
Riot co-founder and chief product officer Marc Merrill emphasized the company’s ongoing commitment to producing high-quality film and TV content, though he acknowledged the challenges they faced in the process.
Merrill didn’t directly confirm the $250 million figure but emphasized, “We’re fully confident in the investment made to produce a show that truly honors our players’ time.
Riot, despite its various challenges, in Hollywood, has been a powerhouse in the gaming world since 2009 when “League of Legends” launched. The online multiplayer game now boasts 180 million monthly active players globally, along with its expanding lineup of spinoffs.
As “League of Legends” itself is free to play, Riot’s primary revenue, totaling around $3 billion last year, came from in-game purchases like “skins,” a standard revenue model in live-service games.
Riot simply expanded its reach into both esports and music, with its headquarters spread across several buildings in Santa Monica. Not long ago, the company was one of the top office space tenants in Los Angeles, displaying its recognizable fist logo across multiple structures.
Arcane Conceived By Christian Linke
“Arcane” was conceived by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, members of Riot’s player support team who, despite lacking experience in production, envisioned a TV show based on the “Legends” universe.
It all happened in 2016 when Riot made the bold decision to give Linke and Yee the green light to create a pilot, partnering with Fortiche, a Parisian animation studio that had previously collaborated with the company on music videos and short promotional pieces.
Insiders familiar with the production revealed that the first nine 40-minute episodes of Arcane cost over $80 million, while the upcoming second set of nine episodes is nearing a budget of $100 million.
According to sources, the significant increase in costs for Arcane can be attributed to the detailed and labor-heavy production process, as well as consistent budget overruns.
These issues arose after the second season began production with only a portion of the script completed, causing delays in script deliveries and further escalating costs
Even more surprising than the production costs was Riot’s investment of $60 million from its own budget to market the first season of Arcane.
This amount is well above what a typical studio would allocate for a show it doesn’t own, and notably larger than Netflix’s own promotional expenditures. Netflix declined to comment on the issue.
The spending raises further questions, especially since Riot already had a large player base from Legends and other games to help promote the series at a lower cost. Instead, they invested heavily in lavish stunts, including a takeover of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
The marketing budget for the second season is not publicly available, but it’s anticipated to be much smaller than the first season’s.
Although the exact marketing costs for the second season are unclear, they are expected to be much lower than those of the first season.
Despite its billions in revenue from virtual products and slim profit margins, Riot pressed forward with its Hollywood ambitions, undeterred by the hefty expenses.
