Riot Games Will Not "Rush Into" League of Legends Movie
Despite reports surfacing last year that Riot Games was set to license its hit eSports title League of Legends out to other properties such as television and film, it will not “rush into” a feature-length movie based on the game, the developer recently announced.
In an Ask Riot segment on the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game’s official website, the studio’s co-founder, Brandon “Ryze” Beck told fans that while it “dreams of films set in League’s universe”, previous failures of video games to successfully make the transition to the big screen had led it to carefully consider any possible projects before launching into them. That being said, Beck did admit that Riot is actively “exploring” various forms of cinematic storytelling, with a television or film adaptation of the fantasy game very much a possibility for the future. He added that the studio has a “ton of talented folks” experimenting with different versions of storytelling, who are ultimately “learning as they go”.
League of Legends has grown to one of the most popular PC games of all time since its initial release in 2012; as of September 2016, it was estimated that it had over 100 million actively players every month. The title also has a burgeoning competitive and eSports scene. Riot itself hosts the popular League Championship Series, with teams being divided into regional ladders made up of ten professional teams. The popularity of the competitive aspect of the lane-based title is evident by the betting scene associated with it - operators such as www.bets.io allow players to bet on the outcome of matches in various leagues as they would with any other sport, while they also include integrated live streams of games as they are played via gameplay broadcast service Twitch.
It is believed Tencent – the majority owner of Riot Games – became interested in the possibility of bringing League of Legends to the big screen following the release of the movie adaptation of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft online multiplayer title last year. While that film ultimately underperformed in North America and received a mixed critical response, it grossed over $220 million at the box office China alone – over half of its total global revenue. As a result, Tencent is reportedly keen to explore the use of its similarly popular League of Legends IP in other media forms, including movies, anime and TV. For instance, the company has already tested the waters of world and narrative-building outside the confines of the game itself with the launch of its LoL Universe: a content hub that draws in various aspects of lore from the title’s world.
Ultimately, it appears Tencent and Riot are going about the conceptualization of any crossover film in the right way. In his post, Beck concluded that the “most important” aspect of exploring the use of the characters and universe of League in other works was that it “feels authentic to the source and respectful of the passion we all share for the game”. With that in mind, it may be a few years before we see the popular PC game transition into movie theaters – but it will hopefully be well worth the wait.