VALORANT Series May Be On Way As Riot Buys Into Animation Studio
Riot Games has purchased a "significant" stake in the animation studio behind the hit Netflix series, Arcane: League of Legends, promising that fans can expect even more collaborations in the near future.
The deal will see Riot Games work ever closer with the Paris-based Fortiche Productions, and along with that second season, more "to-be-announced projects" are also in the works. With Riot Games’ two IPs being League of Legends and VALORANT - could this be the first "confirmation" of a VALORANT series?
Arcane, which largely told the story of sisters, Vi and Jinx, opened up the world of League of Legends to a whole new audience and was a critical and commercial hit. Praised for its stunning blend of hand-drawn 2D animations and CGI backdrops, it was the most-watched show globally on Netflix for three weeks and maintains a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, Anyone who watched the series knew a second season was a formality, which proved true as it was confirmed to be in production within days of season 1 airing.
Riot Reveal More Projects Past Arcane After Signing Deal
There is already a fair amount of surface-level world-building taking place in VALORANT, between the agent trailers and the Easter eggs strewn across maps. One could even say the perfect amount to give creators the tools but also the flexibility to take it in different directions.
Though we are very unlikely to see that anytime soon, Arcane, took roughly six years from pitch to its debut in 2021, and while the second season isn’t expected to take nearly as long, fans have been told not to expect it any time this year. So, if are to get a VALORANT series it will very likely be 2023 at the earliest.
Though, while it does line up quite nicely, don’t take this as confirmation. VALORANT’s trailers and cinematics have been produced by various studios including Little Zoo and Blur Studio, and while the art styles are very similar between the League of Legends and VALORANT stuff, it's not a forgone conclusion.
You can see what we mean with the Episode 4 cinematic, "Warm Up", that came out at the start of the year.
Who Are Fortiche Productions?
The studio behind Arcane, the Paris-based Fortiche Productions, has long worked with Riot Games on League of Legends content, being behind many of the game’s iconic music videos such as "Get Jinxed", "POP/STARS" which featured Maddison Beer.
While having worked largely with Riot Games, a partnership that goes back ten years and multiple music videos and trailers, they have also worked with Thom Yorke’s animated band, Gorillaz, and Marvel, the latter on the Rocket & Groot animated series.
