interactive entertainment founded 2006 ; 10 years ago 2006 headquarters los angeles california united states number of locations 17 2015 1 key people brandon beck ceo tom cadwell lead designer 2 marc merrill president 2 greg costello international affairs 2 products league of legends revenue us 1.6 billion 2015 estimate 3 number of employees 1 000 2013 estimate 4 parent tencent subsidiaries radiant entertainment website www.riotgames.com riot games is an american video game developer publisher and esports tournament organizer established in 2006 . their main office is based in west los angeles california . they currently have additional offices located in berlin brighton dublin hong kong istanbul mexico city moscow new york city st. louis santiago s o paulo seoul shanghai singapore sydney taipei and tokyo . 1 the company is primarily known for league of legends which was released in north america and europe on october 27 2009 . 5 the company also developed a free mobile game called blitzcrank s poro roundup which was released on ios and android in august 2015 . riot is also involved in league s competitive esports scene by organizing the league of legends world championship and championship series for europe and north america and well as coordinating the filming and broadcasting of those events . they also sanction leagues organized by third parties in other regions across the world . contents 1 history 2 games 2.1 mini games 3 distribution 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links history edit riot games was founded as an indie game developer in 2006 by brandon ryze beck and marc tryndamere merrill in los angeles . 6 the company announced its only game league of legends clash of fates in october 2008 7 and released the game in october 2009 as simply league of legends . their game uses a free to play model supported by microtransactions rather than ads or boxed copy sales . in 2008 riot games obtained initial funding of us 7 million provided by venture capital firms benchmark capital and firstmark capital . 8 in a second round of funding in 2009 the company raised 8 million from benchmark firstmark and chinese technology company tencent holdings . 9 10 in early 2011 tencent holdings bought out a majority stake in riot games . 11 12 tencent later reported the deal was for 231 465 000 in an interim report . 13 employees at the company include veterans of defense of the ancients such as the former lead developer steve guinsoo feak and the former official dota allstars.com website founder steve pendragon mescon . 14 riot games also employs some former blizzard entertainment employees . 6 on july 12 2013 business insider named riot games 4 on its list of the top 25 technology companies to work for in 2013 . 15 on november 8 2013 riot games announced that the company would relocate to a new building in west los angeles in 2015 . 16 on december 16 2015 riot games sold its remaining equity to tencent holdings . 17 18 on march 8 2016 riot announced its acquisition of radiant entertainment . 19 games edit title year month genre platform league of legends 2009 october multiplayer online battle arena moba windows mac mechs vs. minions 2016 october co operative strategy tabletop mini games edit title year month genre platform astro teemo 2015 march arcade windows mac cho gath eats the world 2015 april arcade windows mac blitzcrank s poro roundup 2015 august sidescrolling game ios android flash distribution edit in 2008 riot games has already released and distributed league of legends in latin america australia the united states philippines singapore vietnam malaysia thailand canada south korea taiwan china europe brazil japan and indonesia . 20 in china riot s primary shareholder tencent inc. distributes the game online . in southeast asia online game service provider garena publishes league of legends . in north america riot games self publishes and operates the game and all of its customer service aspects . in europe riot games originally signed an international licensing partnership with goa a division of orange s.a. . on october 13 2009 goa and riot announced that they would start channeling server access for players located in europe to goa s dedicated servers . this restriction meant that players located in europe would not be able to play on riot s servers in the united states . due to negative community feedback the channeling decision was rescinded october 16 2009 . on may 10 2010 riot games announced that they would take over distribution and operation of the game in europe . to do so riot games established a european headquarters in dublin . 21 on july 19 2012 riot games launched the official closed beta test servers for league of legends greece . the game has been fully localized including translated menus texts subtitles with all characters being dubbed . on april 16 2013 riot games launched the official open beta test servers for league of legends russia . references edit a b the riot manifesto . riot games . april 28 2015 . retrieved october 28 2015 . a b c lien tracey january 1 2014 . riot games president defends company against accusations of greed . polygon . retrieved november 1 2014 . gaudiosi john january 27 2016 . esports are driving digital video game sales . fortune . mike snider july 11 2013 . league of legends makes big league moves . usa today . retrieved october 16 2013 . riot games . interactive timeline . retrieved october 17 2013 . a b kath brice june 25 2009 . blizzard developers join riot games online title . gamesindustryinternational . retrieved october 16 2013 . anthony gallegos october 7 2008 . riot games league of legends announced . 1up . com . retrieved october 16 2013 . leigh alexander july 10 2008 . riot games get a 7m launch . kotaku . retrieved october 16 2013 . riot games raises 8 million . pe hub . september 9 2009 . retrieved october 16 2013 . lalee sadighi sep 2009 . riot games 8 million to play with . red herring . retrieved october 16 2013 . edwards cliff february 4 2011 . tencent acquires majority stake in riot games to expand in u.s. . bloomberg.com . retrieved april 23 2015 . jon leo february 8 2011 . tencent acquires majority stake in riot games . gamespot . retrieved october 16 2013 . tencent 2011 interim report pdf . tencent . p. 44 . retrieved january 29 2014 . steve mescon hints bringing dota allstars.com back online . neutral creeps . july 5 2011 . retrieved october 16 2013 . megan rose dickey july 12 2013 . the 25 best tech companies to work for in 2013 . business insider . retrieved october 16 2013 . pereira chris november 8 2013 . riot games moving to huge new campus in 2015 . ign . moser kelsey december 16 2015 . tencent purchases remaining shares in riot games to hold 100 % of equity . thescore esports . thescore inc. frank allegra december 16 2015 . riot games now owned entirely by tencent . polygon . retrieved december 16 2015 . riot games acquires rising thunder and stonehearth studio radiant entertainment . polygon . vox media . retrieved march 8 2016 . jikonka jikonka october 18 2013 . indonesian servers join the league transfer now . lol esports . retrieved october 20 2013 . riot games inc establishes emea headquarters in dublin . ida ireland investment promotion agency . july 15 2010 . retrieved october 16 2013 . further reading edit will chobra cho october 13 2012 . riot games office tour with chobra video . ggchronicle . retrieved october 16 2013 . brad stone ashlee vance and cliff edwards blurring the line between virtual and real . . bloomberg businessweek no. 4235 june 27 2011 37 38 . jamaica king december 2010 . online gaming communities strengths limitations & death . interface . external links edit official website v t e league of legends developers and publishers riot games steve feak tencent garena in game universe runeterra v t e professional league of legends competition riot games world championship 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 mid season invitational 2015 2016 regional leagues major league of legends pro league lpl mainland china league of legends championship series lcs europe & north america league of legends champions korea lck korea league of legends master series lms taiwan hong kong macau wildcard garena premier league gpl southeast asia brazilian circuit cblol brasil turkish champions league tcl turkey league of legends continental league lcl cis league of legends japan league ljl japan oceanic pro league opl oceania league of legends latin america cup las lan latin america south & north other competitions current intel extreme masters esl premier league former dreamhack major league gaming world cyber games list of leagues and tournaments category players category teams category commentators v t e tencent services foxmail kugou ku music asian music awards qq qqlive qq music qq music awards qzone soso wechat red envelope video gaming league of legends sanguo qq games riot games supercell people ma huateng martin lau related 360 v. tencent tencent pictures dungeon fighter online crossfire alliance of valiant arms authority control musicbrainz aaaa3e32 bbde 4719 92c7 4adcb0b01121 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title riot games & oldid 743622841 categories 2006 establishments in californiacompanies based in los angelesleague of legendstencent holdingsvideo game companies established in 2006video game companies of the united statesvideo game development companieshidden categories use mdy dates from may 2016wikipedia articles with musicbrainz identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage 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