A new report from Bloomberg suggests that Arcane has been a financial failure for Riot Games, having one significantly over budget while failing to attract new players to Riot's money maker, League of Legends.
According to the report, Riot didn't have a "robust plan to recoup the cost of the show" which ended up costing around $250 million for two seasons. While Riot internally justified the cost by suggesting Arcane would help the business in non-monetary ways, this hasn't panned out. A spokesperson for Riot told Bloomberg that "Arcane was a success when we look across all our internal measures."
This isn't out of character for Riot Games which has consistently spent heavily over the years, both to attract new players to League of Legends and also to diversify its business, which is heavily reliant on the hugely popular MOBA and its built-in auto battler Teamfight Tactics.
Riot Forge was an attempt by the publisher to grow the "brand" of Runeterra through spin-off games developed by talented independent studios. Although several of the games were critical hits, none of them made a sizeable commercial impression and Riot Forge was wound down earlier this year. The team behind the...
