League of Legends co-CEOs and co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill are set to be presented with a special award by the British Academy of Film and Television (“BAFTA”) next week. The award will be received on Monday 12th June at a special event at ‘The London, West Hollywood’. Brandon and Marc will accept the award on behalf of Riot Games.
The award is in recognition of the Riot’s “creative contribution to the games industry”. Other professionals in games to have previously received a BAFTA Special Award are: Brenda Romero (best known for work on Wizardry RPG); Amy Hennig (known for Legacy of Kain, Uncharted and SNES) and Markus Persson (best known for Minecraft).
Nick Button-Brown, Chair of BAFTA’s Games Committee, commented in the release: “Riot Games has had a major influence on our industry, from the way they work as a company, to the way they have constantly improved and evolved League of Legends, through to their approach in esports and the way they create wonderful must-see events. Their worldwide events, their stadium-filling matches and the generation of stars that they have created have changed the way we and many other industries look at games.
He continued: “At BAFTA we aim to champion innovation and creativity. We are therefore delighted to recognise Riot Games with this BAFTA Special Award.”
League of Legends won a BAFTA back in 2015, winning the “Persistent Game” title. It has since been nominated in both 2016 and 2017 for the AMD Esports Audience Award. The award was won this year by Clash Royale, to the surprise of many.
Esports Insider says: Congratulations to Riot Games on its award. As one of the pioneers of esports growth I doubt there’ll many arguing against this award. It’s another accolade for the company. Now all eyes turn back to the franchising of the NA LCS and how well the new business model performs.
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