The good folks at Riot Games must have known that their League of Legends offering was going to strike a chord with both hardcore and non gamers, but chances are they hadn’t counted on opening a European office in less than a year since the title’s launch. The goal of the new office will be to provide better support and publishing infrastructure for European operations.
In an interview with Gamasutra, Riot chief Brandon Beck comments, “The game has been received really well in Europe, and that growth has largely mirrored US growth Going into Europe has been an opportunity to get close to our users and improve the quality of service there.”
First up on Riot’s to-do list is to bring the European publishing arm of League of Legends in-house, similar to their modus operandi in the North American market. Having feet on the ground in Europe will also help the company address localization issues, community relations, marketing, and network support. Until now, League of Legends has been distributed in Europe by GOA.
According to Beck, the decision to settle in Dublin was based on it’s “”emerging hub for online game servicing. And because it’s close to the Guinness factory.” I’m quite sure this decision has nothing to do with the fact that Ireland has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in all of Europe.
Riot’s commitment to fully engaging it’s European audience is evidenced by their current search for a European Community Manager, with one part of the job description reading, “Evangelize internally on behalf of the European player, ensuring they receive a quality of experience equivalent to North American players.”
Since the successful launch of League of Legends last October, Riot Games’ staff numbers have more than doubled, with 70 staff members on board. And while the Dublin office is starting off with only 7 employees, Beck says that there are “definitely plans to expand on that.”
“We intend to continue to grow and expand upon League of Legends really aggressively, more than is usual or typical for a game post-launch. That’s to support the growth we’ve had and the desires of users to expand the experience and the feature-set. We’ve got a larger live development team than we had at any point on the game pre-launch.”
Beck also commented on future Riot offices around the U.S., but more interestingly hinted at new gaming projects “in the coming months.” If Riot’s first entry is any indication of what this talented team is capable of, I can’t wait!
Additionally, Riot Games took this occasion to announce that these 1 million League of Legends players have spent over 18 million hours in the game. On a daily basis, more than 150,000 players in North America and Europe compete in League of Legends.
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