Riot Games co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill have been awarded a BAFTA Special Award.
The pair received the BAFTA in Los Angeles at an event at The London West Hollywood venue, taking place during E3.
BAFTA said it’s part of its ‘growing global games strand in the USA’.
The award was presented to League of Legends developer Riot Games ‘in recognition of the studio’s creative contribution to the games industry’.
In a joint statement, Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill said: “Thank you to BAFTA. This is so meaningful to us.
“We graciously accept this on behalf of our full team and on behalf of the Rioters at home. And of course, a special thanks to all of our players.”
“We graciously accept this on behalf of our full team and on behalf of the Rioters at home. And of course, a special thanks to all of our players.”
Nick Button-Brown, Chair of BAFTA’s Games Committee, added: “Riot Games has had a major influence on our industry, from the way they work as a company, to the way they have constantly improved and evolved League of Legends, through to their approach in esports and the way they create wonderful must-see events.
“Their worldwide events, their stadium-filling matches and the generation of stars that they have created have changed the way we and many other industries look at games.
“At BAFTA we aim to champion innovation and creativity. We are therefore delighted to recognise Riot Games with this BAFTA Special Award.”
The timing and criteria for the award was not fully explained by BAFTA.
In 2015, League of Legends received a BAFTA for Persistent Game, with further nominations in 2016 and 2017 for the AMD Esports Audience Award, which is presented at the British Academy Games Awards.
Earlier this year, Clash Royale received the AMD Esports Audience Award at the Game BAFTAs in London.
Previous games professionals to receive a BAFTA Special Award include Brenda Romero, Amy Hennig and Markus Persson.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
