Riot Games invited Esports News UK to its new London office last month as it revealed its Forge of Champions tournament to members of the press.
While we were there, Riot caved in to ENUK editor Dom Sacco’s nagging and allowed him to take some snaps of the place. Here’s his image gallery and thoughts on the new Riot UK office in Victoria.
‘THE DARKER THE NIGHT, THE BRIGHTER THE STARS’ – the saying jumps out at me as I enter Riot’s London office.
As an observant and annoying perceptive journalist type, I often look out finer details, and I notice this one in the corner a whiteboard acting as a to-do list.
Having worked in several industries as a reporter, I know that many offices can be drab, soulless places, but there are some that really capture their company’s ethos, imagination and style, like Lego and Mind Candy.
Riot has this same je ne sais quoi with its offices around the world, and it’s evident here too, with a frosted glass meeting room and drinks cabinet displaying League of Legends characters, the trademark Riot red and black splashed on the walls and motivational quotes dotted around.
There are little poro toys and League figures on desks, plus a bigger Riot Games logo on the red wall on the right. Someone has placed a minion on a framed wall plant.
Another saying, ‘Some buds need a little push to blossom’, is on a white board.
It is a little small (but like size ever mattered) and feels very new, with room to grow and come alive, but it’s just great to see the office open doors, after Riot first announced it was opening a dedicated UK office last year, hired staff and changed its location from West London to Victoria.
Moving into the meeting room, there’s a cool, ominous picture of Blitzcrank on the wall, and another saying on the table: ‘Challenge what you know.’
Statues of Twisted Fate and Caitlyn adorn either side of a screen and I feel at ease in here as the presentation is carried out.
I probably talk too much, nattering on at Riot UK head of esports Mo Fadl about using Evelynn to climb in low elo and boring the other journalists around me, but sod it.
Riot UK has a handful of staff at the moment, but I’m sure the numbers will grow as they need to in the future.
Like I say, it’s great to see Riot with its own London office and I look forward to seeing what they do here.
Further reading
- Forge of Champions full reveal
- Interview: Riot and LVP on investing millions into Forge of Champions
- How I got on at Riot UK’s 5v5 Clash event
- Riot Bolton interview: ‘The sky’s the limit for League of Legends in the UK’
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.
