Paris, France – Video game developer Riot Games, known for its online game ‘League of Legends’ has announced an equity investment to animation studio Fortiche Production, who animated the animated series ‘Arcane’, which is based on the lore of League of Legends.

Through the equity investment, Riot Games now holds a significant non-controlling stake in Fortiche. Brian Wright, chief content officer at Riot Games and Brendan Mulligan, director of corporate development at Riot Games have also joined Fortiche’s board of directors.

Riot Games and Fortiche have long worked together in creating media projects, the first one being for the music video of ‘Get Jinxed’ to promote the character Jinx on League of Legends. Other collaborations included music videos ‘WARRIORS’ and ‘Enemy’, both of which are sung by American band Imagine Dragons. Furthermore, the two companies have also worked together in music videos for ‘Seconds’, ‘RISE’, and ‘POP/STARS’, which is performed by their virtual band K/DA.

Nicolo Laurent, CEO of Riot Games, said, “Fortiche has been an integral partner for a long time, but this agreement ensures we’ll be working closely for decades to come. We hold a high bar for everyone we work with and insist they understand players deeply and focus on them relentlessly, and from day one, Fortiche has exemplified player experience first.” 

He added, “In working with Fortiche, we collaborate to push the boundaries of what’s possible and raise expectations for how games can be represented in the media. As proud as we are of Arcane, we know the best is yet to come.”

Meanwhile, Pascal Charrue, Jérôme Combe, and Arnaud Delord, co-founders of Fortiche, commented, “The various collaborations with Riot Games, and especially Arcane, have made Fortiche Production a new major player on the international animation scene. Riot Games, by trusting us, has given us the means to achieve our common ambitions and has shown that it is possible to offer new content that can reach a large audience. In 2023, we will celebrate ten years of collaboration: there is no better way to symbolise the trust and ambitions of our two companies than this association.”

Hong Kong – In retrospect to celebrating the game’s gameplay in China for a decade now, multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends has launched a new campaign alongside brand agency Superunion, which evokes memories of the game’s players in the country, who have been active now for a decade.

Called aptly as the ‘Annie-versary’ campaign, the title plays on one of the game’s well-known characters known as Annie, a child mage known to possess pyromantic abilities. Furthermore, the character has become of increasing importance to League of Legends players as a valuable and iconic champion.

Said campaign was developed using the insight from Riot Games that gamers love finding Easter eggs and the feeling of being truly part of a gaming community. It uses memes, secret words, and insider jokes, piecing them together to follow a protagonist’s 10-year gaming journey with League of Legends, sharing the wild ride with the gaming community.

Justin Kuo, head of creative, China Entertainment at Riot Games, said, ”Superunion has been the ideal partner for the campaign, as they truly understand the passion that our players have for our games and have helped us create a campaign that reflects the transformative power of being part of the gaming community.”

The film launched at the grand opening celebration event at Hangzhou Olympic Sport Centre and will be featured across all social media platforms and broadcast media.

Meanwhile, Maggie Chien, business director at Superunion China, commented, “It’s been an honor working with Riot Games China, with this particular project aligning perfectly with our creative revolution spirit. We worked as one global Superunion team to complete Riot’s 10th ‘Annie-versary’ film that integrates an impactful plot with top-notch visualizations, designed to evoke memories for all League of Legend gamers over the last 10 years.”