Riot Games, the developer behind League of Legends and Valorant, has acquired the studio Wargaming Sydney. This studio was responsible for the technology and code behind games such as World of Tanks and World of Warships. Now, it will help Riot to release new MMOs and console versions faster.
Who exactly has Riot Games acquired? BigWorld was founded in 2002 in Sydney and was acquired by Wargaming for $45 million in 2012. It is one of the largest development studios in Australia.
They are primarily known for their “Bigworld Technology”. This allows many players to fight simultaneously in an MMO. In 2016, World of Tanks set a record with this technology, allowing 250,000 players to play simultaneously on one server. The record for the most concurrent players in a single battle is held by EVE Online with 8,825 players.
In total, more than 30 MMOs utilize Bigworld technology.
What does Riot Games hope to achieve from this?
- They want to leverage the technology and new employees to strengthen the teams for LoL and Valorant.
- In general, Riot’s technical department is expected to be strengthened.
- Riot Sydney is to work on console ports.
Riot Games’ big goal: New “Games as a Service” titles are to be brought to market faster.
How much did Riot pay for the studio? This is currently unknown.
Studio in Australia is set to expand further
What MMOs is Riot currently working on? On several:
- The new LoL MMORPG, which is gradually revealing more details
- Hytale, a Minecraft MMORPG whose release has been postponed indefinitely
- Project L, a fighting game featuring LoL characters
- The console version of LoL Wild Rift
- Possibly a hack and slash titled Project F, which could also be the LoL MMORPG
They could all benefit from the experience of Wargaming Sydney.
What will change in the company? According to the official press release, not much. All developers are expected to be integrated into Riot’s team and continue to work in Sydney. Only the publishing team will remain with Wargaming to continue operating the games there. Wargaming also retains the rights to “Bigworld Technology” and continues to operate its games with it.
Head of Riot Sydney will be Molly Mason-Boule, who was employed at EA from 2004 until May 2022. Naresh Hirani, the Head of Development at Riot Sydney, commented on the acquisition:
We were really impressed by the alignment of the work culture we noticed in dealing with the people at Riot, and we can’t wait to bring our expertise in global development into the relevant teams. I’m sure I speak for the entire team when I say we are all very much looking forward to being a part of Riot and helping provide players with incredible experiences.
Additionally, the press release states that the studio in Australia will continue to expand and be supplemented with talented personnel.
Support in the technical department is something Riot Games could use in the view of some players. Recently, the well-known streamer Tyler1 expressed dissatisfaction with the LoL client:
LoL: ‘They should be homeless’ – Twitch streamer calls for Riot to fire 2 teams
