Riot plans to go big in 2023 with biggest budget of all time

According to Riot Games, 2023 will be the biggest year in the company’s history and have the highest allotted budget ever. 

Riot Games has boosted the budget for League of Legends ahead of next year, according to Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent, who spoke with Konbini on November 27. The news comes as a positive sign for fans and esports players and teams as an increased budget eventually means the developers will have more resources to spend on its esports ecosystem. With the extra funds, Riot can improve the current esports circuit and launch new leagues in the following years, giving esports players better opportunities to showcase their potential and, most importantly, strengthening the viability of the esports industry as a whole.

Furthermore, Riot Games has a tonne of planned content, and with the added funding, the developer might be able to move more swiftly and finish the project before schedule. In the upcoming year or two, Riot plans to develop Project L, a fighting game featuring League of Legends characters. In addition, the developer is working on a much-awaited MMO centered in the Runeterra universe that is predicted to compete with games like Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft. Given the expansion in EMEA, fans are curious about how the extra funds will be allocated, even though it is more likely that the higher budget is meant to meet the requirements Riot has set for its esports ecosystem.

Riot to introduce more tournaments for marginalized genders in 2023

Riot Games plans to host more competitions for underrepresented genders in League of Legends and Valorant in 2023. Valorant will directly implement the expansion, while Riot will require a little more time to develop a League of Legends competitive ecosystem for underrepresented genders. With the debut of Game Changers in 2020, Riot established its first circuit accessible to underrepresented genders in Valorant. Earlier this month, Ashley Washington, the product lead for Game Changers EMEA, gave some information about the league’s expansion.

Game Changers circuits will be divided into layers in the EMEA region to make them more accessible to players from a wide variety of skill levels. While Valorant’s esports ecosystem is currently thriving for underrepresented genders, Riot’s enthusiasm in that area for League of Legends is still lacking.

“We aspire to build out a program for LoL esports for women and other marginalized genders” – Naz Aletaha

Though Riot just introduced a new women’s League competition called Rising Stars, the event is still far from what is required to match the competitive ecosystem developed in Valorant. Naz Aletaha, the global head of LoL esports, claims that Riot intends to change this by integrating a circuit for underrepresented females into the League’s future esports ecosystem.

Header: Riot Games