Is Arcane 2 a Commercial Failure?
As we have seen, the release of Riot’s Arcane 2 this year has been quite a surprise. Not only does it shake up the gaming world, but this series also showcases many ambitious development plans from Riot, particularly highlighting the growth potential of the League of Legends universe.
However, from the very beginning of its launch, Arcane 2 has faced numerous criticisms. One of the main concerns is the staggering production cost to create this series, which is reported to be quite shocking. According to Bloomberg, Riot has confirmed that the budget for producing the two parts of Arcane could reach up to $250 million. Paul Bellezza, a producer and executive of League of Legends, stated that Netflix has paid Riot around $3 million for each episode, while Tencent, which holds shares in Riot, has also contributed an additional $3 million for the rights to stream the series in China.
Nevertheless, the financial support has been relatively limited, especially given the costs to create two films. Moreover, Riot has not capitalized on the success of the first part. The company has spent excessively on advertising, to the point where it cannot recoup its investment from production. The series has also failed to attract many new players or significantly increase spending among existing League of Legends fans.
Bellezza stated: “We are surprised by the success of the first film. The reason we could lose the opportunity to realize some operations to improve revenue before it launched.” Overall, Arcane 2 is still “on the way to development”.
A Riot Producer Responds to “Antifans”
After Bloomberg’s article was published, many experts expressed criticism and focused on Riot for not generating adequate revenue. Quickly, Marc Merrill, one of the founders of Riot, took to social media to defend against the “antifans.”
According to him: “Those with a narrow viewpoint, focusing on material gains and always skeptical will encounter difficulties in understanding Riot. This has always been true for those who think that premium free games won’t succeed, that esports will never thrive, and that our music is just an afterthought… and they would say that Arcane isn’t worthy.”
These individuals believe we produce Arcane to sell skins, but the truth is we sell skins to create works like Arcane. Riot is a company with a mission, where Rioters continuously strive to enhance players’ experiences to be better. That’s why we’ve been successful in many games and have gained recognition in various fields such as gaming, sports, music… and animated films.
Are we only focused on short-term profit? No. However, we don’t focus on short-term financial gains – we focus on providing long-term value for our audience over time, from this time to the next.
To be clear, Arcane has indeed been successful in engaging players, and because of that, it has also been quite successful for us.”
So, what do experts think about this point? Is Arcane 2 truly a success, or is it merely a fleeting spectacle without real value for Riot?
