Riot Games has acquired a ‘significant non-controlling stake’ in Fortiche Production, the French animation studio behind the breakout animated Netflix series Arcane and other League of Legends (LoL) videos.
LoL publisher Riot today announced the new equity investment, with Brian Wright (chief content officer at Riot) and Brendan Mulligan (director of corporate development at Riot) joining Fortiche’s board of directors.
Riot and Fortiche have worked together for almost a decade, first collaborating on the music video ‘Get Jinxed’ (featuring Djerv) to celebrate the launch of the iconic League champion Jinx. Other notable Riot and Fortiche collaborations ‘Warriors’ and ‘Enemy’, the songs by Imagine Dragons, ‘Seconds’ (a cinematic showcasing Ekko) and ‘Pop/Stars’, the K/DA music track featuring Madison Beer, and others.
Riot and Fortiche are currently collaborating on the second season of Arcane, as well as other to-be-announced projects. Arcane premiered in November 2021 on Netflix worldwide and Tencent Video in China.
What happened at the end of Arcane Season 1? FAQs for the final act and what’s next (spoiler alert)
Arcane premiered at number one globally on Netflix in November 2021 and held the top spot for three weeks in a row, hitting the top 10 in over 52 countries and maintaining a rare 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. The series recently received nine nominations for the 49th annual Annie Awards, making it the most-nominated TV show of the year with categories including Best TV/Media General Audience, Best Character Design, and Best Writing.
‘Enemy’ reached more than 1bn streams and number one on the Billboard rock chart.
“The various collaborations with Riot Games, and especially Arcane, have made Fortiche Production a new major player on the international animation scene,” said Pascal Charrue, Jérôme Combe and Arnaud Delord, co-founders of Fortiche, in a joint statement.
“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.”
“Fortiche has been an integral partner for a long time, but this agreement ensures we’ll be working closely for decades to come.”
Nicolo Laurent, Riot Games
“Fortiche has been an integral partner for a long time, but this agreement ensures we’ll be working closely for decades to come,” said Nicolo Laurent, CEO of Riot.
“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’. In working with Fortiche, we collaborate to push the boundaries of what’s possible and raise expectations for how games can be represented in media. As proud as we are of Arcane, we know the best is yet to come.”
Fortiche, which now includes 350 employees and collaborators in Paris, Montpellier and Las Palmas, Spain, will remain operationally independent from Riot aside from Riot’s positions on the board of directors. The company leadership team includes co-founders Charrue Pascal, Combe Jérôme and Delord Arnaud, as well as Hervé Dupont, appointed managing director.
Related article: Riot Games CEO outlines business’ future with 5-year plan
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.
