Bloomberg: The animated series "League of Legends: Two Cities" cost too much and did not meet Riot's expectations

According to the latest report from Bloomberg, although the animated series "League of Legends: War of Two Cities" was well received after its launch, the series cost Riot too much money and did not achieve the expected results, forcing Riot to withdraw in a hurry.

Bloomberg said that in order to produce "League of Legends: Two Cities War", Riot took a great risk. The series was produced by Riot itself to ensure its quality, and it did gain good audience reputation. But in contrast, Riot also invested about $250 million in these two seasons.

Part of these costs were also shared by Netflix and Tencent, who paid $3 million per episode, but these fees combined account for less than half of the series' cost. In the report, a Riot spokesperson commented that "By all our internal measures, League of Legends: Two Cities is a success" and that the second season is expected to at least break even.

However, Bloomberg also pointed out that breaking even is still a long way from Riot's expectations. Part of the reason for the lack of profitability of "League of Legends: War of Two Cities" is that Riot encountered problems when making supporting items for "League of Legends". Riot did not expect the first season to be so successful and missed the best time to launch supporting items in the game.

Finally, Bloomberg stated that with Riot cutting 11% of its employees at the beginning of the year, although "League of Legends: War of Two Cities" will not make Riot lose money, it will be enough for it to gradually abandon its larger Hollywood plans and refocus on games.