Riot Games Makes Equity Investment In ‘Arcane’ Animation Studio Fortiche

China-owned developer and publisher Riot Games, known for League of Legends, has announced a new equity investment in Paris, France-based animation studio Fortiche Production, which produced the animated series Arcane.

Here are details of the deal:

• Even prior to Arcane, Riot and Fortiche had collaborated for years. Their first project together was Fortiche’s “Get Jinxed” music video (2013), which commemorated the launch of League champion Jinx. Fortiche has made numerous game promos for Riot since then, ultimately culminating in the Arcane series.
• Riot and Fortiche are currently working on the second season of Arcane, as well as other to-be-announced projects. The first season of Arcane premiered last November on Netflix worldwide and Tencent Video in China. The show won nine Annie Awards last weekend.
• “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. “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.”
• “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.”
• Under the terms of the investment, which closed earlier this year, Riot now holds a significant non-controlling stake in Fortiche. (The specific amount of the investment was not made public.) Further, Brian Wright, chief content officer at Riot, and Brendan Mulligan, director of corporate development at Riot, have also joined Fortiche’s board of directors.
• 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 studio was founded in 2009.