RIOT! In the Gaming Industry
From its start in the 70s with Arcades and first-generation console systems, like the Atari 2600, to today with modern PCs and 8th-generation consoles, like the Xbox and PS5, making up the most popular gaming platforms, the gaming industry has come a long way since starting up only 50 years ago. With an ever-changing industry and a never-ending player base, industry professionals are constantly working to innovate and showcase the next best product, and in doing so, the gaming marketing industry is constantly adapting to fit the consumers’ newest desires. As the market continues to grow and push the boundaries of what had been thought previously possible, there is one company on the rise.
Riot has innovated the gaming industry by marketing not only to those who play their games but also to demographics outside of the gaming industry by showcasing the lore and immersive world-building they have created for their games through other outlets such as TV and music. Riot Games is most known for its popular game League of Legends. Riot has put extensive resources into marketing League specifically because it is one of the most well-known games worldwide and one of the most popular esports games in the field.
League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot in 2009. While massively popular, League is a very polarized game in the public’s eye. Known for toxicity and bullying among players but also the most popular esports game in the industry, League has quite a reputation amongst the gaming community. Many people go out of their way to avoid being associated with the game, which has made Riot look for more innovative ways to advertise their game. League has taken the characters’ stories they have developed and expanded their universe far past just the simple game they released in 2009. One pivotal way Riot showcased League was through an unexpected partnership with Netflix, creating the show “Arcane,” an animated steampunk action-adventure series set in the League of Legends fictional universe released in November 2021.
The show was quickly released to acclaim, praised for its stellar animations and remarkable storytelling, and its ability to appeal to both casual viewers who previously never interacted with League and long-time fans who had been playing the game for years. The series set the record as Netflix’s highest-rated series at the time of its premiere, ranking first on Netflix’s top 10 chart in 52 countries. Many critics consider the animated series to be one of the best video game adaptations ever. In 2022 “Arcane” became the first streaming series to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program and an Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated Television Broadcast Production. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating, which just goes to show how well-received this series was by the public. People didn’t have to know about League to enjoy the show, and its critical success caused many people to gain an interest in the game as they wanted to know more about where the characters came from. “Arcane” helped diversify the audience interested in League by showcasing the game to a whole new demographic of people outside of the gaming community.
Riot continued this trend of marketing media expansion by extending to the music industry. The marketing of League was shifted from focusing on the game to taking characters and making them into popstars, putting them into idol groups, having them produce music, and using popular artists and singers to voice the characters and turn them into internet stars. This started with Riots virtual girl group K/DA, consisting of four League of Legends characters: Ahri, Akali, voiced by Madison Beer and Jaira Burn, respectively, and the last two characters, Evelynn and Kai’Sa, voiced by K-pop group (G)I-dle members Miyeon and Soyeon. K/DA was unveiled by Riot in 2018 at the League of Legends World Championship with an augmented reality live performance with an original song titled “Pop/Stars.” A music video was animated of the band for their single, which subsequently went viral, surpassing 100 million views in a month and topping Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart. Creators at Riot saw a huge overlap between League, esports, and the music industry, and as a result, they invested in building a music team of their own with songwriters and composers to make what they consider a “League of Legends version of Gorillaz'' and after five years of planning K/DA was created and revealed to the public.
K/DA has achieved significant success both within and beyond the League of Legends fandom and received critical acclaim with regard to their performance during the World Championship and their impact of gaming on the music scene. K/DA’s success inspired Riot to make many more bands after them, most recently debuting their newest boy band, Heartsteel. Heartsteel made their worldwide debut with their single “Paranoia” at League’s World championships this year. Heartsteel has six members consisting of characters from the game, but only three of them have real-life counterparts to sing for them. Despite this, Heartsteel was still widely anticipated thanks to the involvement of the singer Baekhyun, a member of the K-pop group Exo. Baekhyun had talked to his fans about his love of the game and was asked by Riot to sing for their character, Ezreal, for their newest band. Due to his involvement with the game prior, his fans were excited to see him perform as the character for Worlds. Riot’s skillful selection of singers and idols to participate in their bands allowed people outside the game’s fandom to become aware of these virtual bands and gain interest in their music. Hearsteel dropped their debut music video in October of 2023, and after only a month, their numbers are already expected to surpass those of Riot’s most popular group K/DA.
Riot has reshaped how video game companies look at marketing. In late October, popular game company Blizzard collaborated with the K-pop group Le Sserafim and made the song Perfect Night. This collab was with Blizzard’s most popular game, Overwatch 2, and featured not only the song but also Le Sserafim-inspired cosmetics for the characters in the game. Le Sserafim also met with overwatch esports teams and was taught how to play by the players, which was broadcasted at Blizzcon. Fans of the band raced to watch the girls learn how to play, which in turn exposed them to the game and taught new people what Overwatch was if they had not known previously. Without Riot’s successful marketing tactics merging gaming with other industries, collaborations like this may have never been considered before. Riot’s knowledge of audience fragmentation has allowed them to explore different avenues to market their games and innovate how marketing will be considered in the future.
Written by Lauren Carmona, Social Media: Bella Hanson