Серіал «Аркейн» / Game Rant
The animated series Arcane based on the League of Legends game brought Riot Games four «Emmy» awards and audience recognition, but cost the company $250 million and did not recoup its investments, reports Bloomberg.
The development of the series was an unprecedented decision for Riot Games. The company took over the financing and management of the production instead of the traditional licensing of rights to Hollywood studios. In addition to the cost of creating two seasons, Riot spent tens of millions of dollars on marketing and award campaigns. Netflix paid about $3 million per episode, and China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd, Riot’s owner, added another $3 million for the rights to show in China.
«For us, the most important thing is the long-term engagement of players,» a Riot Games representative explained. The management hoped that the series would attract new users to League of Legends and increase revenues from the sale of in-game content. However, at the time of the first season release, the developers did not have enough themed items for sale.
The studio’s employees had a mixed reaction to the decision to allocate such significant resources to «Arcane», which affected the company’s core business — game development and support.
After the end of the second season of Arcane, the company suspended work on other adaptations and downsized its film and TV development division. Despite financial difficulties, the project played an important role in popularizing League of Legends. In preparation for the second season, Riot has introduced more thematic content, including new character images. One of them, related to Jinx, can cost up to $250.