Game developer Riot Games has announced a range of musical collaborations for its upcoming North American events, VALORANT Champions and League of Legends’ LCS Championship.
Starting with VALORANT’s final international event of the 2023 season, Riot Games revealed that this year’s anthem will feature musicians Grabbitz and bbno$.
The song, titled ‘Ticking Away’ will release on July 31st. The new track will be performed live during the VALORANT Champions finals’ opening ceremony. According to VentureBeat, artists ericdoa, Emei and Jazz Alonso will also perform during the opening ceremony.
This isn’t the first time that Grabbitz has featured on a VALORANT-themed song. The musician was also a part of VALORANT Champions’ inaugural anthem ‘Die for You’.
Canadian rapper bbno$ has also dabbled in esports activations in the past. Back in 2020, his song ‘bad to the bone’ was integrated into ESL Pro League CS:GO Season 13.
VALORANT Champions is taking place in Los Angeles and will kick off on August 6th.
Riot Games has also revealed that the opening ceremony of League of Legends’ tier-one North American league, the LCS Championship, will be headlined by afro-fusion artist Thutmose.
Again, the Brooklyn-based artist is no stranger to musical collaboration with Riot Games. Thurmose performed as part of True Damage, a virtual hip-hop group featuring League of Legends characters, at the MOBA’s 2019 World Finals in Paris. Specifically, he performed as the character Ekko.
In recent years Riot Games has fully looked to integrate itself within the music industry, notably through a range of collaborations with artists for its esports event. Last year Lil Nas X performed at the 2022 League of Legends World Championships.
Moreover, the company has previously created a virtual K-pop group featuring League of Legends characters and collaborated with the likes of Imagine Dragons, Against the Current, Ashnikko and Jackson Wang.
