League of Legends developer Riot Games has told Esports News UK what it will be doing from its new London office.
We’d heard rumours involving Riot’s esports strategy in the UK, and the way in which Dublin-based staff were changing positions or leaving the company.
The gist is that Riot is currently in talks with partners like Multiplay and ESL UK for its 2018 UK esports roadmap, including which leagues will operate and the format they have.
Riot doesn’t have plans to close the Dublin office. It will remain Riot’s European central hub for security and publishing, and will involve player support.
The Berlin office will remain Riot’s esports hub, while the London office will help support the community. We’ve been told the Riot London office has ‘soft opened’ as a sort of temporary office for now, while Riot continues to seek the right staff to add to its ranks in London.
“Riot is currently in talks with partners like Multiplay and ESL UK for its 2018 UK esports roadmap, including which leagues will operate and the format they have.”
Riot Dublin staff have had the opportunity to relocate to other offices, like staff did last year when Riot opened an office in Paris. For example, some members of the French communications team moved from Dublin to Paris.
Following the announcement that Riot is opening a London office, some staff have moved across and others have left the Dublin office.
A Riot spokesperson dismissed some of the rumours Esports News UK had heard. They said: “We are still working through plans for next year, but we absolutely won’t be able to continue running local leagues without the help of partners like LVP, ESL UK etc.
“As we are opening local offices, some teams will eventually move local.
“We haven’t announced what we’re doing [in the UK and Ireland in terms of esports] next year, but we’ll still be working with partners.”
Riot added that its strategy for local offices – including London – is about ‘getting boots on the ground’ and doing a better job of supporting the community.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
