League of Legends Developer Riot Games Has Been Bought Out By Chinese Company Tencent
Riot Games, the developer to the largest eSports title in the world League of Legends, has been purchased by Chinese company Tencent.
In a blog post announced on Riot Games earlier today, the North American gaming company said that its majority shareholder, Tencent Holdings Limited, has purchased all remaining equity. Riot Games is now 100% owned by Tencent.
From Riot Games:
As a result of our continued growth and changing circumstances, we’re shifting to a new structure to recognize and reward Rioters’ contributions – and that first involves a big change to our existing equity program. As part of this effort, our majority investor, Tencent, recently purchased the remaining equity of Riot Games.
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According to Riot, the purchase will allow the company to offer a more cash-based incentive program for its employees, moving away from equity share. This, combined with their already competitive industry salaries and benefits, implies a substantial payday for fully-employed Rioters.
This program comes in addition to our highly competitive salaries, open PTO, learning and development programs, 401K match, subsidized medical plans, and kitchens stocked with snax (poro and otherwise) all full-time Rioters get.
Tencent Holdings Limited is one of China’s largest IT-based companies, providing media, internet and mobile technology services. The Shenzen-based outfit is an investment company that also controls some of the most used internet services in China. Tencent owns minority stakes in other global gaming companies such as Activision Blizzard, GLU mobile, Pocket Gems and Epic Games.
Riot Games is a developer, publisher and eSports organizer established in 2006. To date the company has only produced one game, League of Legends. Much of Riot’s focus in the last few years is in expanding its eSports infrastructure. Their leagues now span across the Americas, Europe, Korea, China, Australia and Southeast Asia.
Tencent acquired majority stake of Riot Games in 2011.
Riot Games and Tencent Holdings have not disclosed the total price of the sale as of press time.
League of Legends is the world’s largest online and competitive gaming title, with a recorded 60+ million concurrent users in Q2 of 2015. The League of Legends Worlds Championships Finals in 2015 drew a total peak viewership of 14 million viewers up from 11 million in 2014.
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