In short: Current esports president John Needham will lead a new combined publishing and esports organization serving players that will create a seamless experience between each game and its esports, music and publishing content. In addition, Riot’s TV and film development will now be led by two dedicated studios: an animation studio led by Christian Linke and a live-action studio led by Brian Wright.
What you need to know
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Familiar faces at the helm: John Needham, currently President of Esports, is our new President of Publishing & Esports, leading a combined group that includes publishing, esports, international, platform technology, and music. Riot’s TV and film development will now be led by two distinct studios, led by Christian Linke (animation) and Brian Wright (live action).
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What it means for players: These changes will better connect our game content to the games themselves, resulting in a more unified experience for players and fans. Under John’s leadership, our esports and publishing teams will create new integrated experiences that unite all of our esports, music and creative publishing efforts. With two focused entertainment studios, players will experience a world beyond Arcane in new and immersive ways.
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Commitment to e-sports and cinema experiences: By bringing publishing and esports closer together under passionate and experienced leadership, we are doubling down on our commitment to esports while better integrating it with other content around the game. Separately, we are establishing two distinct entertainment studios, allowing for more dedicated resources and a stronger focus on excellent animation and exploration of live-action projects.
Quotes
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By Dylan Jadeja, CEO:
“Over the past year, we’ve worked to re-orient our organization and structure to better serve players. We want every moment a player spends with us to be valuable – and the best way to do that is to authentically blend our games, esports, music and stories into truly cohesive, immersive adventures for them.Today marks another step in that journey. John, Christian, and Brian are all incredible leaders and dedicated Rioters who care about players. I’m confident that together with our game development teams, they will create even more memorable and formative moments that players and Rioters can be proud of.”
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From John Needham, President of Publishing & Esports:
“This new role presents an incredible opportunity to bring together several passionate teams dedicated to improving the player experience. Having worked on various teams at Riot, I’ve seen firsthand the power that authentic publishing and world-class esports can have to deliver exceptional player experiences. By working together as one, we will create moments and experiences that we hope players will remember forever.”
Backgrounds of managers
John Needham: John brings perspective and leadership skills from his long career in gaming, working across esports, publishing, and operations. He held key roles at Riot, including leading publishing for Europe and North America, before moving into his esports leadership roles. Prior to joining Riot, John held senior roles at Microsoft, Gazillion Entertainment, Cryptic Studios, and Sony Online Entertainment, among others.
Christian Linke: Christian will build on the success of Arcane in collaboration with Fortiche Production as head of the animation studio. He started at Riot 14 years ago, initially in player support before quickly beginning to use his talents as a composer to produce music for League of Legends, including League events, cinematics, standalone albums, and in-game music. His experience led him to become co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the award-winning animated series Arcane.
Brian Wright: Brian will lead the development of new live-action projects as head of Riot’s Live Action Studio. Since joining Riot in 2021, just ahead of the global launch of Arcane, Brian has developed a number of potential projects based on our existing lore and narratives. Prior to Riot Games, he was at Netflix, where he was head of family and young adult programming and launched successful series such as Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy, and Shadow and Bone.
