WEBVTT - Riot Games Tackles TV Production Its Own Way 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.560 Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.040 which we speak with some of the brightest minds working 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:18.239 in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety. 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:22.480 Riot Games is the company best known for the hugely 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.200 popular League of Legends, but it's also making a name 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.160 for itself as a TV show producer. The Netflix series 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.720 Arcane is just the first step in Riot's bid to 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:38.559 traverse the risky nexus of entertainment and gaming. For Riot's 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.600 vision of the future. I spoke with Mark Merrill, co 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:45.400 founder and president of Games at Riot, and SHAWNA. Spenley, 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.240 head of Entertainment, in a joint interview recorded last month 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:53.920 at the Variety Gaming and Entertainment Breakfast presented by Pixel United. 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.440 It's all coming up on this episode a Strictly Business. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:09.640 We're back with Riot Games executives Mark Merrill and SHAWNA. Spendley. 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.080 Welcome everyone, looking forward to have a great conversation with 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.520 you guys. I'm sure you're familiar with Riot Games just 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.280 because you've driven by that really cool logo on Olympic Boulevard. 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:25.040 But there's more of a company, so as the co founder, 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.320 once you set us up, and for those who don't 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.640 know explain riot. Yeah right, it's a little difficult to 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.200 explain actually, because you know, our roots and focus as 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.120 a company really isn't gaming, but we do a lot 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.800 of things, including sports, which of course there e sports, 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.640 a lot of music, and now you know we've dipped 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:46.360 our toe in the water with entertainment with our cane. Clearly, 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.840 you guys are not you know, just the average game studio. 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.680 A lot of different pieces of the puzzle. And we're here, 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.000 of course to talk about this gaming and entertainment convergence 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.960 and our cane and what that represents. But I still 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.280 want to do some more table setting. League of Legends 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.600 is obviously the biggest piece of this puzzle, so I 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.120 want to make sure everyone understands that sort of underlying 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:13.119 property before we talk about the I p um so, 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:19.000 the legal legends phenomenon. Just give the scope for this thing. Sure, 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.919 um So, the easiest way to contextualize what leagal Legends 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.600 is is really to compare it to a sport, because 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:29.160 the game itself is relatively simple, and that there's essentially 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.080 what you do as a player is you join up 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.320 with another four players and you play against another team 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.040 of five players. And you essentially are choosing what we 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.840 call a champion to be for that game session, which 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.680 last ednywhere from thirty to forty five minutes. Uh. And 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.760 then the depth of engagement really comes from the fact 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.480 that you're leveling up, you're trying to kill other players essentially, 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.360 if you it's sort of analogous to say basketball, where 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.400 you know, the the court and the rules are relatively simple, 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.880 but every game is different because they're so much player 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:05.600 expressed creativity um. And so League has you know, little 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.560 over three billion monthly hours of engagement uh, you know, 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.400 just playing the game. And so one of the things 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.160 that's also important to understand about League is that it 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.200 is a very hardcore game and that it is it's 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:19.400 you know, we always thought about it as a targeting 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.600 a niche UM and it turned out that, especially on 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.480 a global stage, you know, that niche was much larger 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.640 than we ever anticipated. And so the game operates as 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.639 a service. It's completely free, and you know, you never 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.120 have to spend any money in the game if you 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.120 don't want to. Uh. And our business has really premised 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.720 upon actually selling cosmetic virtual goods, and so it was 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.520 incredibly difficult to raise money back into thousand six until 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.120 seven when Brandon I Are and twenty five start in 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:49.200 the company. Because you know, two as one VC put 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:53.240 it like, wait, you're gonna have a multiplayer online battle 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:57.040 arena game where college age kids are killing each other online. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:58.520 And then the way you're gonna make money, they're gonna 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.160 play dress up doll and we're like, kind of but 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.800 not really, and they're, yeah, good luck with that. Uh, 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.600 and so you know, but it turned out to work. 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.440 And the e sports market, I mean, in that report 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.280 that Variety Intelligence just put out, we crunch the numbers 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:17.720 on the size of this market. Uh, it's not just 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.919 about playing the game, it's the people watching it. So 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.359 that's like a whole secondary market that comes into this 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.159 for sure. And so we always thought about investing in 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.800 the sports as sort of a feature of League of Legends, 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.080 where it really enhances the experience of being a legal 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.960 Legends player and fan um in a similar way to 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.880 you know, oftentimes the way somebody will learn how to 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.440 play American football is you first start throwing the ball, 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.000 you know, with your parents or friend in the backyard 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:43.640 or whatnot, and then you see it on TV and 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.360 then there's leagues where you can start to learn and 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.279 you know, understand the complexity. League of Legends has all 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.200 of that complexity, so it's very very difficult to learn. 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.520 And so the way that the game really grows is 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.719 once people get over the hump, you know, of learning 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.720 how the game works, right, they start to appreciate how 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:02.240 many layers of are and how fun it can be 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.120 to replay it. And so a lot of players love 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.560 watching people who are incredibly good at the game perform 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.240 at the highest level because they can pull off moves 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.480 that you know, most of us normal humans are simply 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.359 you know, can simply dream about, and so it's incredibly 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.760 fun to watch. Got it now, Shaana, you're over at 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.560 a little company called Netflix. Is everyone you've heard of that, right, 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.960 So that's a little bitty thing you're over there. Yeah, 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.799 you're looking at the gaming market, you're looking at League 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.320 of Legends. You saw a certain potential in terms of that, 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.359 I p I take it. Well. Yeah, So, so my 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.480 role at Netflix was to run marketing for the all 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:47.160 the English language content, all of the titles across film, TV, animation, everything, 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.679 And so when you're looking at roughly a thousand titles 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:52.880 a year, and I was there for fifteen years, so 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.240 I I saw everything performed, whether it was our originals 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.360 or or every frankly everything that we licensed to. And 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:03.200 it's really a rare that you see I I mean, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.160 we all know this, but but i P of this 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:11.640 caliber that is completely untapped cinematically. So with over six 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:16.200 million people interacting with League of Legends since its inception, 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.280 it's it's incredibly rare that you would not have film 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:24.080 or TV adaptations UM already in existence, and and League 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.159 of Legends as an i P is so massive. Again, 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.640 being at Netflix, we started to see what was performing 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.719 across all of Southeast Asia, UM, in Japan and in Korea, 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.880 and so I started to pay close attention to this 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.600 i P because it was pretty clear to me that 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.120 there was this massive demand UM and and no supply. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:49.240 And so I'm curious back at Riot what the decision 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.839 making was like in terms of, hey, let's go do 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.919 this convergence thing, let's transition the i P. What what 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.800 kind of uh conversations went on internally that made you 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.400 we gotta do this. You know, I would be lying 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.000 if I said it was incredibly strategic. Uh, you know, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.200 what it really was was organic and sort of birthed 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.040 from love of the i P. Where you know, Riot 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:16.360 has like nine people who paint all day long, and 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.040 you know, so we have we're probably one of the 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.520 largest you know, creative employers in the world, and so 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.600 we have this incredible amount of this wonderful creative talent, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.880 and everybody at the company is very aligned around the mission, 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.280 which is we aspired to the most player focused game 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.440 company in the world. And so for us, you know, 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.960 as players are engaging with the game and loving it, 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.400 and we're building the sports and they're developing these characters 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.560 and people are playing. Everybody loved these characters, but you 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.520 could only interact with them from this sort of third 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.400 person isometric view. They were sort of tiny, but we 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.840 all viewed them as creators, and our players viewed them 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.720 as these real characters, and they were curious where they from. 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.239 And you know, so we wanted to start to build 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.960 the muscle and other mediums to elevate our players are 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.160 relationship with the i P and with these characters, and 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.000 a lot of that started with music, and then it 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.840 started with some storytelling and some cinematic trailers and whatnot. 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.920 And then you know, Christian Link, who is one of 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.360 the individuals who helped to build our music team, um, 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.200 you know, had this crazy idea. Well, first we started 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.360 doing music videos, which was another crazy thing UM where 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.120 he said, well, back in what if we made a 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.360 full animated series, And we didn't even have dialogue in 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.800 any of our trailers at that point. And so going 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:27.760 from where we were to trying to create something that 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.000 would be great and meet our players expectations in script 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.800 entertainment was a massive leap. And so but then we 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.160 started just to experiment and do some tests and figure 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.040 out what would it take and sort of work backwards 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.160 from that goal of if we were to try to 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.320 create something great that did justice to the league I 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.599 p but was in well executed in the medium that 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.280 other people could enjoy too, what would that be? And 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.240 really that was the journey of Our Cane. And I 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.760 would be remiss to to you know, to mention or 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:56.200 to not mention the our incredible partners with Fortish, which 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.560 is our animation studio in Paris, our partners that did 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.280 Our Cane. We worked at them on many of the 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.880 music videos and a lot of different collaborations you know, 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.640 earlier on and had this deep trust uh and you know, 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:08.400 we had to figure out how to build this great 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.000 animation pipeline with them in parallel. It took six short 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:15.080 years to the screen. But but again, I think it 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:19.480 speaks to Riot's willingness to experiment and to there's just 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.360 a ton of entrepreneurship, create an entrepreneurship inside the company. 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:28.280 So in order to create something of that caliber, you 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.880 really have to give it a ton of space to 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.440 figure out its identity, and that's what they did. But 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:37.160 it's interesting to me that you guys entrusted people who 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.600 didn't really know TV animation to do this. I mean, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.600 when you first heard that, what was your reaction? You know, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.680 to me, it's not that strange, because again I sort 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:50.880 of felt like, you know, I was at Netflix for 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:52.760 a long time and we did a bunch of stuff 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.720 we didn't know how to do. And so the idea 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.240 that they that they did the same thing, it's actually 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.120 the d n a of a company that I love, 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.959 And so it wasn't that strange to me. I'm sure 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.400 it's strange to others. But but there was no market 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.800 for animation of this caliber, like the let's leave the 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:11.679 budget to one side. We don't have to talk about that, 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.960 but but just the ambition of it, it doesn't really 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.920 exists in adult animation at all, and so I just 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:22.520 was really inspired frankly that they were willing to do 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.240 something that nobody does. And part of that is really 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.160 enabled by the fact that we're able to go long 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.760 term and our business model, like you know, it's really 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.440 centered around games and keeping players engaged, and then we 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.839 build these around game businesses e. Sports, music, you know, 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:42.880 consumer products, et cetera, and broader entertainment to keep people 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:47.480 engaged and to elevate. But it's really centered around reinforcing gaming. 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.679 Got it? And SHAWNA At some point, I guess you 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.240 knocked on the door at your old friends at Netflix. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:11:00.199 And what was the process of selling them on doing this? Well, 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:02.560 it was fairly easy. I know a couple of people 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.760 over there, so it wasn't wasn't as challenging as it 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:09.319 might seem. But I think they it was for us, yeah, 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.040 like who do you guys? Yeah, but I think, um, 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.080 they understood as soon as we came in. One of 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.839 the things that really helped them get because they didn't 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.520 really know the i P either, but was to understand 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.640 how big our audience was in markets where I think 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.560 Netflix wanted to grow, so I happen to know some 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.360 of those markets, and so it was helpful I think 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.840 to show um just our reach in Korea for example, 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:40.959 and and not surprisingly Arcane's done exceptionally well around the world, 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.080 but in markets where I think Netflix really was looking 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:45.800 to grow their subscriber based so I think it was 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.720 just a perfect fit. Well, that would imply you saw 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.800 data with regard to how this show performed. What was that. 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.600 Now we get little snippets, you'd be surprised. I mean 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:56.960 for somebody who was in that data for years, I 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.480 we don't get much more than you all get. But 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:04.080 they definitely gave us indications that it was a success 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.600 and that it was doing well well. Also part of 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.520 it was that you guys brought something to the table 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.240 in terms of getting the word out to talk about that. Well, yeah, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.760 I mean we have an enormous platform, like I said, 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:21.280 so with you know, and eighty million people playing uh 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.560 our games that are in this room terror, in this 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.280 League of Legends sort of universe. We have um enormous 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.560 UH platforms at our disposal too, So I think it 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:36.320 allowed us to experiment in promotion to our base, which 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.680 I think was why Netflix was so willing to disrupt 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.120 their all at once model. UM. Typically on Netflix, you 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.600 would the show would be released all at once, and 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.280 for our Cane, we released them in three tranches, which 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.319 is very rare, but it was in large part because 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.000 we had a bunch of promotional platforms that we were 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.480 able to leverage on the game side and through the world. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.559 And it was a huge credit to Netflix and to 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.400 Amazon Twitch where uh to not shoot down the idea 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:08.480 also around us doing a free broadcast for the first act, 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:11.400 leveraging Twitch as well to allow our streamers to do it, 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.360 because that really helped build hype an awareness in our 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:19.120 community because again even our players like rioters, were skeptical 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.760 about our evolution into entertainment. A lot of our players 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.320 where people were nervous as heck, like please don't screw 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.200 up our I p you know that they love you know, 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.679 when we're trying to move into uh you know or 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.520 announce the animated series. Um. And then once people saw 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.800 the show and it was great, big I really excited, 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.120 which of course then hopefully helped to drive a lot 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.559 of subscriptions over to UH the Netflix. Yeah, Netflix broke 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.280 rules there's to do it. But I mean huge credit 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.560 to Amazon Twitch to let us do co streaming. I mean, 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.640 we were able to really partner with a ton of 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.520 different folks and getting this launched. So you launched the 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.360 show almost a year ago now, right, yeah, just about 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.080 and I'm just reous, Like, how do you feel now 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.359 that you've done this and in terms of your readiness 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:08.680 to do more validated? Is that is that the right word? 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:13.600 And relieved, you know, I mean delighted ye yeah, And 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.120 just honored, I mean, and just so so proud of 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.720 in particular Christian and Alex that the showrunners and just 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.000 rioters in general who have poured their hearts to this 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:22.440 hole in building this world in the c I P. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.000 And it's just really meaningful to them and to our 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:30.600 players to not feel the oftentimes sort of skepticism and 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.840 or stigma by sort of the broader mainstream, you know, 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.800 how our gaming. You know, it's like when people embrace like, wow, 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:38.520 that's actually really cool what you're doing. It's like that 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.280 is that's something It feels different than the daily experience 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.440 of being somebody who loves games and where oftentimes, you know, 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.080 people will be like hey, that thing you love doesn't 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.840 have any worth, which we don't think is true. So 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.400 I also think, look, I might be biased too, so 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:57.960 I'll own that. But because this was built by rioters 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:02.760 for players, it wasn't an adaptation that sort of Hollywood 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.240 rolled in and said, here, what we know, what we're doing, 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.360 We're going to figure this out for you. It was 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.680 very much a homegrown project that was built for players. 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:15.920 And you know, I think at the time our employees 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:17.960 would have been happy if it was on YouTube and 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:20.600 just sort of they're out there for free. The idea 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:22.760 was that it was a gift to our players. So 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:24.920 for us to feel like it's actually getting you know, 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.440 winning Emmy's and it feels like it's part of the 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:34.320 conversation was bigger than we could have ever imagined. Um. 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.360 But I think to Mark's point, any whenever you're in 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.640 a game company and you dip your toe into entertainment, 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.840 there's this game curse that everybody talks about. So it's scary. 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.760 It feels like you're going to somehow upset your players 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.400 in trying to delight them, you you upset them, And 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.840 we're just really lucky in this case that we did 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:52.720 the opposite well, and I think one of the key 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.359 elements to balance is around that passion and deep understanding 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.760 and love of the I P and sort of creativity, 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.400 but augment with expertise and and you know, sort of 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.960 like great experience and finding the right team composition to 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.640 be able to pull something off is you know, I 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.200 think one of the most important things to building anything great. 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.640 We'll be back in just a minute with more with 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:30.440 Mark Merrill and SHAWNA. Spendley. We're back with Riot Games 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.440 executives Mark Merrill and SHAWNA. Spendley. I'm sure a lot 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.800 of people in this room could testify to it. Yes, 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.239 we've seen that this world of gaming is massive in Hollywood, 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:45.120 understands its importance. But transitioning that I P whether to 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.800 the big screen or the small screen, it's a very 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:51.560 tortured history. I came up in this business covering television. 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.320 I remember, I think NBC Universal, I saw them twice 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.400 try this and failed that. No one remember defiance on 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.960 the Sci Fi Channel? Yeah, I mean a lot of 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:05.440 So were you not daunted by all that? We were 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:11.440 incredibly daunted, uh and intimidated. Um, you know, But I 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.720 think the thing that has often given rioters this sort 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.320 of drive and perseverance to overcome a lot of obstacles. 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.359 Is that deep dedication and passion and mission orientation, and 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.320 that we all share the same dream of sort of 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.000 like what wouldn't it be great if you know and 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:29.440 you know, just over this love of the I p 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.480 um and you know, I think when you have incredible 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.720 people and you know, a lot of constraints are difficult challenges, right, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.480 you can you know to quote of course, you know, 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.000 you can give a uh, you know, great idea to 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:42.879 a mediocre team and they'll make a videocre You can 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:44.600 give a mediocre idea to do a great team and 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:49.760 they'll make it great. Okay. I also think, you know, 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.399 these are not commercial objectives necessarily. They really are coming 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.800 from this place of of building a better experience for players. 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:00.840 And so Mark, who is steeped in gay times, and 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.200 and me and my team some of them were here, 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:07.400 are steeped in the storytelling. We're really connected in in 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.840 what we're trying to do. I also think that's rare. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:11.880 It's not sort of this separate P and L. It's 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.640 not a separate business unit that has to kind of 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:20.920 um recoup exactly so that ethos. I imagine it's fairly 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.240 rare and it's important to us to keep that strong. 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.600 Will there be a season two? Yes, we're already in production. 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.360 Doesn't it doesn't happen quickly, So I'm just gonna set 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.600 expectations now, hopefully quicker than six years. We think, we 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.680 think the pipeline exists now, so yeah, we think half 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:40.040 the time. So I think in twenty four we will 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.879 have season two. That is amazing and made all of 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.240 us cry. We just finished the scripts, and just a 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.719 few days ago we learned in a Variety exclusive that 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:58.640 you guys hired a live action executive Geture. So clearly 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:00.879 there's some broader ambition sins here. I know you're not 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.119 necessarily going to speak to particulars, but do you guys 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.399 have a sense now of like, Okay, we're going to 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:07.399 ramp up a whole slate in the next ten years, 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:09.520 Like what are you thinking? Well, one of the things 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:13.639 that's exciting is our Kane takes place in one area 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.560 in our world and with eight characters, and we have 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:19.800 close to a hundred and six characters now in a 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:24.280 much larger world, and so the storytelling possibilities to develop 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:26.639 who these characters are in the relationships and sort of 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:28.240 the timeline is, you know, we think are vast and 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.199 events and part of our challenges, you know, how do 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.919 we do that well? Um, And it's been really exciting 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.600 for us to cultivate this again incredibly rich animation pipeline. 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:40.560 But that's one that's one medium, and you know there 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.159 are other, of course mediums that may be able to 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.240 do an incredible job of telling these stories also, and 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.560 those are things that we're committed to explore. You say that, 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:54.080 and I immediately think of two words, cinematic universe or 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.119 Marvel this field of characters, Like are you looking to 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.280 companies like that in terms of like, Okay, we've got 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.320 to build this bible over X number of characters and 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.000 wine number of years. We hear that phrase a lot 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.800 inside our company too, and I think we try to 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:15.320 just stay patient and pace it because we're obviously inspired 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.399 by Marvel and Lord of the Rings and and Harry 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:23.280 Potter and Game of Thrones. They're they're incredibly inspired and 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:28.560 clearly audiences are are asking for these interconnected, intertwined universes, 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.199 so we we can only aspire to tell you know, 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.359 phenomenal and great stories with this vast world that we've 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.679 that you know, they've created that that I get the 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.600 pleasure of working inside of UM our team. It's interesting. 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:48.119 It's like we're not trying to tell too big of 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:51.760 a story too quickly. We really like these little pockets 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:56.320 of the universe UM. But I think I think we 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.879 have a very long runway with with i P like this. 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.800 As you all know, Star Wars is fifty years old. 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:08.280 Lord of the Rings, it's older and UM and so 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:13.240 multigenerational i P like this should go on for years, 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:15.600 and so we want to be really patient and treated 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.160 with care, and a lot of that goes into cultivating 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:22.480 the internal organizational competency around how to have so many 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:25.960 different creators and teams work effectively in a coordinated way 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.879 within the i P. And that's quite a challenge, and 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:30.640 you know, as we continue to grow, you know, we're 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:33.439 finding different ways to do that. But you know, I 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:35.800 think we're benefited again by the ability for us to 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.879 really think long term and UH and try to be 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:43.760 focused on again investing in the i P rather than 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.720 exploiting the i P for sort of the short term benefit. 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:50.080 There's no immediate plan for you know, three pictures any 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:52.200 year kind of a thing. I mean, we're not we're 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:57.040 not in a pipeline way of thinking. We want no, 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:01.920 we really want high quality X silent um, and we're 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:05.920 okay if it takes time. So you talk about the team, 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:09.280