I Predict a Riot
Riot Games' CEO and president give us a brief outline of their plans
Riot Games today announced USD 7 million in funding to enable the company to complete work on its first title.
GamesIndustry.biz spent a few minutes with Marc Merrill, president and chief of marketing, and Brandon Beck, CEO, to find out a little more.
Riot Games is an online developer/publisher that is focused on delivering premium quality titles that focus on gameplay and replay ability in order to build deep, ongoing relationships with game communities.
We are focused on the underserved 'mid-core' gamer market - gamers who are looking for premium online titles that are significantly more involved than casual and/or Flash games, but requires far less time commitment than traditional MMO's.
We are also developing a robust technology platform to service and operate our products and will be bringing our titles to market ourselves.
That is true - in spite of all the consolidation, or potentially because of, we believe that there is significant room for innovation within the online space and are confident in our strategy and our high-powered team.
The funding process was an enjoyable experience and we are really excited about being backed by such world class institutions as Firstmark Capital and Benchmark Capital.
The money will be spent on building our team and continuing to develop our initial product, our technology platform and bringing our initial product to market.
In the short term, we look forward to announcing our initial title and moving into a successful beta cycle. We cannot wait to have gamers touch our product and are really excited about getting initial user feedback.
We're bursting at the seams with excitement to announce our title, which will happen in the following months. In the meantime, we continue to make small announcements on our company website.
The online games industry continues to evolve. With the online-enabled consoles, the growth of strong gamer communities with high expectations and the evolution of business models, we believe that significant opportunities have exist.
We also believe that there has never been a better time to build a consumer facing brand as a game developer and believe that companies like Penny Arcade and Homestar Runner have done a phenomenal job building thriving communities.
In the same way that it makes sense for a developer to understand player tastes when making a game, it makes sense for game ratings to understand relevant player tastes when assessing a game, and, more importantly, for the reader to understand the frame of reference when writing the review.
Thus, we believe it's important to have relevant gamers from the audience the product is targeting review the games. Obviously, a hardcore gamer will write a different review than a casual one; or a sports gamer a different review than an RPG gamer.
Similarly, a kids game will probably receive a poor rating from a MMO player - I don't think the World of Warcraft audience would be that excited about Club Penguin, but that doesn't mean it isn't a fantastic product.
Marc Merrill is president and chief marketing office and Brandon Beck is CEO at Riot Games. Interview by Phil Elliott.