Riot Games, developers of popular esports titles LoL and Valorant, is all set to further expand its business into the Asia-Pacific region via hyper-localization and expanding its publishing reach to now include Japan and India.
In a major reshuffle to its previous strategy, Riot Games will now open new publishing offices in the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. These new offices will lead Riot’s push to localize its businesses of Games, Entertainment, Esports, and Enterprise with publishing being the forefront of the new strategy.
Riot had previously run the SEA business out of its Singapore hub office and also had an office
in Japan. The lead the new APAC strategy, Riot has brought in Alex Kraynov, its previous Managing Director of Emerging Markets (Southeast Asia, India, Latin America, Brazil, Middle East, North Africa, and Japan), as the new Managing Director for APAC.
With its goal of being the most player-focused game company in the world, Riot is all set to lead its businesses to new heights in every country they operate. In the last couple of years launched several new titles including VALORANT, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra, as well as Riot Forge titles Ruined King and Hextech Mayhem. Riot’s games within the League of Legends universe have garnered over 600 million players globally in the past decade.
Apart from the usual gaming business, the company had recently released Arcane, a globally acclaimed Netflix animation series set in the universe of League of Legends. The Riot Games Music group has also expanded its efforts by releasing royalty-free music under Riot Sessions, and virtual metal band Pentakill’s comeback EP, Lost Chapter.
Riot has also continued to widen its fashion presence and formed special partnerships with brands like Uniqlo to release a collection of League of Legends UT t-shirts, or Team Mania a Flipino streetwear brand to promote the release of Neon, the first Filipino agent in its tactical shooter VALORANT.
Speaking of the reorganization, Riot Games, Managing Director for the Asia Pacific, Alex Kraynov said:
This is a natural step in progression for our publishing business in Southeast Asia, and Riot recognizes that APAC has the potential to become the biggest region in the world for Riot. This region is intricately diverse, with massive gaming communities that have diverse needs and a strong appetite for mobile gaming.
In the past few years, our offices in Singapore and Japan have worked hard to release several new games and have nurtured new esports leagues to excite and delight players. Working towards more physical presence in our key APAC markets, we’re extremely excited to double down on these efforts to continue striving towards being the most player-focused gaming company in the world.
On top of bringing Alex Kraynov to lead APAC Publishing, Riot has also appointed the following
leaders within Alex’s team:
● Shinji Komiyama, Director of Country Management, APAC
● Jennifer Poulson, Head of Publishing Partnerships, APAC
● Alasdair Gray, Head of Marketing, APAC
● Derek Winder, Head of Business Development, APAC
● Yasushi Fujimoto, Country Manager of Japan
● Joel Guzman, Country Manager of the Philippines
● Resha Pradipta, Country Manager of Indonesia/Malaysia
This leadership team will continue to grow from 2022 and beyond, with a Country Manager of
Thailand, Country Manager of India, and a Head of Regional Tech to be appointed very soon.