League of Legends has become the world’s most-seen PC game and a major driver of the explosive growth of sports since its debut title. Since League of Legends was released in 2009, Riot Games Inc. has produced several spin-offs of the game, notably Valorant, a first-person shooter that has nothing to do with the original game.
Recently Riot Video Games, maker of popular League of Legends, unveiled a brand new studio in Shanghai to develop new video games for global audiences. Riot Games acquired Hypixel Studios in April 2020, where it had invested in the previous 18 months to release Hytale, a Voxel-based sandbox game. Riot also forged a publishing arm, led by Leanne Coombe, to work with smaller game development studios to develop games such as League of Legends and games such as League, which are still in development.
According to a leading research firm Niko Partners, China is the largest gaming market in the world and also the biggest for Riot Games due to the popularity of PC-based games that account for 45% of players and 32% of the total game sales. China is an important marketplace for Riot video games because it has been recognized that PC games have a larger share of the 32% recreational income of the 45% of players who keep Niko as a companion. Mobile and e-sports leagues are also on the rise. China is the second most important market where Riot Games enjoys the greatest popularity due to its flagship League of Legends, a PC game.
Shanghai Riot Games, creator of the popular League of Legends game, will play twice as many games in China, said its Vice President in a news statement to the broadcaster CNBC. Riot Games announced that the primary focus of the new studio in Shanghai to focus on the development of new games for a global audience. All-Star Game of the 2020 LPL (League of Legends Pro League) All-Star Weekend in Chengdu, Chinaxu Xiaofan Red Star News Visual China Group via Getty ImagesLeague of Legends World Cup, which was held in China in 2020, will be held again in 2021 in the country.
Mobile games are massively popular in China and they account for the majority of the Total gaming revenue the country. Riot Games, primarily focuses on PC games, but recently they want to focus on mobile games because of their players, many of them, play on mobile devices. The Studio of Riot Games in Singapore will support their existing titles, but their focus currently will be to develop new titles.
Chinese gaming giant Tencent in 2011 bought a majority stake in Riot Games and in 2015 acquired the rest of the company. “We are satisfied with the current partnership, which will continue to work together. Tencent is also pleased with the existing partnership, which we are continuing to work on together”. US Experts have raised concerns about the impact of Chinese companies on companies they invest or acquire, whether they are Chinese or foreign. Tencent holding owns many big games publishing studious including Krafton, Tencent also owns a 40% stake in Epic Games the creator of Fortnite.