Arcane, the animated series based on League of Legends characters, turned out to be a financial failure for Riot Games. Over two seasons, the company spent $250 million but was only able to recoup half of that amount, according to Bloomberg.
Riot Games considered Arcane a gift for fans and a way to attract new players to League of Legends. Despite its immense popularity and numerous awards, the show was unable to fully cover the production costs.
Netflix paid Riot $3 million per episode, while the Chinese company Tencent paid around $3 million for the rights to stream the series in China. However, these revenues were insufficient to cover the production expenses.
Efforts to attract more viewers to League of Legends through Arcane also fell short. While some players registered for the free game, developers were unable to release themed cosmetics quickly enough to capture the interest of newcomers. As a result, new players often didn’t remain in the game for long.
For the second season, developers had more time to create new cosmetic items, which helped improve the financial outlook. A company representative noted that the second season is likely to be profitable for the company.