• “Arcane”, the television adaptation of Riot Games’ “League of Legends”, returned to Netflix.
• The series was created by Christopher Linke and Alexander Yee, two Riot veterans with no TV experience.
• “Arcane” reportedly came with a hefty price tag — but it was well-received by fans and critics alike.

In 2010, “Arcane” co-creator Christian Linke needed to make a change.

The German-born musician spent years playing bass in the German rock band Panik and working as a songwriter and producer. However, by 2010, when he observed musicians using personal computers to produce their own tracks, he began to have doubts about the music industry and thus the longevity of his career.

So he quit music, packed up his life, and moved to Los Angeles. When she arrived, she found a customer support job on Craigslist. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, the job set him on a career path that would lead him to his first Emmy award in 12 years.

The demonstration took place at Riot Games, a young video game company founded in 2006 that released its first game, “League of Legends,” a year ago. While Riot announced that the game reached 180 million monthly active players in 2021, “League” is one of the most played PC games in the world these days. But at the time, Riot was small and “League” was still a new game. . And as luck would have it, Linke, one of the first players in “League of Legends,” had thousands of unanswered German customer support requests queuing.

“Somehow they hired me,” Linke told Business Insider. “I guess because of all the people who were interviewed, I was the only one who actually spoke German.”

Fourteen years later, the now creative director has graduated from answering tickets to executing one of TV’s most successful video game adaptations. “Arcane,” which Linke created with his long-time collaborator, Rioter Alexander Yee, premiered on Netflix in November 2021. spent millions of viewing hours And hit number 1 It is on Netflix’s global top 10 English television series list.

It wasn’t much of a surprise when Netflix announced that it had renewed “Arcane” for a second season as soon as the first season was completed. Apart from winning four Emmy AwardsIncluding the outstanding animation programme, almost universal criticism. There’s good reason for that: Its focused, character-driven story and distinct visual identity, courtesy of French animation studio Fortiche, make it accessible and immersive television for newcomers and long-time “League” fans alike.

But before the show hit the big time, it was a passion project that Linke and Yee started working on in 2015; this project stemmed from their tenure at Riot and the relative creative freedom they were afforded during the company’s rise.

“When we started the project, there were no adaptations that had been successful,” Linke told BI of his and Yee’s plans to create a series based on the game. “But it didn’t really matter because the desire was always so clear. It was like, ‘We want this to exist.'”

Linke wore many hats at Riot and built his career at the company

When Linke started at Riot in 2010, his remit quickly expanded beyond customer support. After a stint in the billing department, he moved into data analysis, working cross-functionally across different teams.

But in 2011 he realized the opportunity for the company to invest more in music projects. character themed songs, music videosand “League” groups, and in turn drew from his own creative background.

“No one wanted this,” Linke said, but no one was stopping him. By 2015, Linke had established a team under himself and proven himself within the company. What he lacked was a challenge.

The same was true for Yee, who turned to creative design at the company. After years of toying with different creative sandboxes within the “League” universe, together they began designing the television show that would become “Arcane.”

This was unprecedented work at Riot and, at the time, had not yet expanded into any traditional television or film projects.

“We had to take really small steps,” Linke said. “We had to create a way to convince not only the creator, but leaders who had never worked on a TV show before and had never invested in a TV show. So a lot of this was starting with the basics.”

This included animation and dialogue testing – “We had never heard our characters speak,” Linke said – as well as crafting the series’ story. After about a year and a half of work, the company decided to produce a pilot episode in 2016, which ultimately worked out well for them.

Still, Linke and Yee took risks along the way; the most important of which was investing in French production studio Fortiche. Prior to “Arcane,” the studio was working on music videos and promotional materials for artists like Riot and Gorillaz, as well as some television projects. But none of them reached the heights that “Arcane” would: In its first season, nine episodes were animated with a quality more reminiscent of film than television.

“People were very worried about it, but the thing about Fortiche that you can’t fix with money is the passion,” Linke said. “I knew they would pause their lives to do the greatest thing of their careers with this project, and I’ve worked with other animation studios where that wasn’t the case. It’s a business, but Fortiche had something to prove.”

‘Arcane’ was an expensive labor of love that Riot hasn’t copied yet – but it’s a great proof of concept

Nine years after Linke and Yee began working on “Arcane” in 2015, the series is ending after two nine-episode seasons. The project was not without significant expenses: Fortiche’s feature-length animation meant that production moved at a slower pace, typical of animated films rather than animated television.

Quoting sources familiar with the production, Diversity recently reported that the production cost of the show’s first season was $80 million, and the second season was close to $100 million. (Riot did not immediately respond to BI’s request for comment on the reported cost of “Arcane.”)

Even if Riot doesn’t make a direct profit from the series, that may not be the company’s main goal anyway. Film and television aren’t Riot Games’ core business; There are video games like “League of Legends.” A really good television series like “Arcane” not only attracts existing players who spend money on in-game cosmetics, but also brings new looks to the series. Real life cosmetics, “Arcane” season two drops with Fenty BeautyIt probably won’t hurt.

“Arcane” remains Riot’s most polished and only successful adaptation. By putting the first major “League” remake in the hands of the people who know it best and care about doing it right, “Arcane” sets a precedent for how to make something loved by fans and critics alike. Reportedly the high production costs and long timeline allowed them the time and space to do so, which Linke said was the only way to do it. Washington Post Prior to season one, this meant “poking a huge hole in Riot’s wallet.”

Ultimately, Linke says, the show is a product of “selfish desire.” Being motivated by passion, not pragmatism, is why it’s so good.

“For us, we love the game,” he said. “We wanted to see these characters come to life. That’s it. That’s enough to say it should be there for us too.”

“Arcane” season two, “Act One,” is streaming now netflix. The second episode will be released on Saturday, November 16.