LogIn"These people think we make things like Arcane to sell skins, when in reality we sell skins to make things like Arcane."
Netflix
Yesterday, we discussed Bloomberg's article calling Arcane a success but also a "financial miss" based on comments from analysts and Riot Games' own spokesperson. It said that the show "went way over budget," with Riot spending $250 million and Netflix paying the company only $3 million per episode.
It "didn’t have a robust plan to recoup the cost of the show before it launched," and Riot's spokesman added that while the show itself wasn’t profitable, it added to the business in other ways.
Marc "Tryndamere" Merrill does not quite agree with the harsh conclusion, as he stated in the comments on Reddit. He believes such people, who "look at the world through a short-term, transactional, cynical lens, really struggle to understand Riot" and its efforts that are not solely focused on its games.
"These people think we make things like Arcane to sell skins, when in reality we sell skins to make things like Arcane. Riot is a mission driven company where Rioters are constantly striving to make it better to be a player. That is why we have successfully done that over and over again across multiple games and now multiple businesses/mediums – games, sports, music & animation. Do we get everything right? Nope. But we are not focused on the short term extraction of profits – we are focused on delivering exceptional value to our audience over the long term, again and again and again."
"To be clear, Arcane crushed for players and so it crushed for us," he added, and of course, Arcane (and maybe even League of Legends) fans will agree.
That's admirable, although I doubt Riot makes these $250 million efforts just to please fans; there is always profit in mind for big companies (if not for Riot, then for its parent Tencent), even when they say all the right, honorable things.
In any case, Arcane Season 2 is "on track to be at least break-even for us financially," according to Riot's spokesperson, so I'm sure it will all be fine eventually.
Meanwhile, the studio adds new skins and Champions to League based on the show, including Ambessa, and Mel might arrive later as well.
Join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.