Riot Games gains full control.
Starting January 2023, Riot Games will be the sole publisher of both League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics in Southeast Asia. This comes after a 12-year partnership with Singaporean game developer and publisher, Garena. With Riot already self-publishing the likes of VALORANT, Legends of Runeterra, and League of Legends: Wild Rift in the SEA region, it's about time that LoL and TFT join the lineup.
In its press release, Riot stated that it already has a new structure set up in Asia Pacific to also further expand its efforts in countries it already self-publishes in like Japan and India.
In addition, we are also in the process of establishing new local offices in key countries including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Players in these countries can look forward to having a dedicated Riot office focused purely on creating hyper-local experiences by tailoring our games to audiences in each country and the region as a whole.
This will be something to look forward to for the PCS, which still doesn't have a greater presence on the world stage. However, it doesn't mention that Taiwan is part of the list, which is odd considering how it's home to some of the PCS' top teams. Riot also spoke about migrating players from the current Garena game client.
Fret not though as Riot will be making the process as easy and seamless as possible. The move will see both Riot and Garena working closely together "on an account migration process" that will be open to all in SEA on November 18. A full account migration tutorial and FAQ are now available on the Account Migration microsite.
Riot is also throwing in an added incentive to players who choose to migrate their accounts early with a suite of in-game rewards as a gift. There will also be welcome events as well as local activities to further enhance the player's experience as part of the Riot ecosystem. This means that SEA players will also be able to partake in large-scale events and cross-product campaigns.
While some players will be noticeably concerned about how safe the migration process will be for their accounts, Riot has ensured that players can retain their account data. This includes key account content like in-game skins and currency, emotes, and champions.
With Worlds 2022 now over and done with, the off-season will be filled with anticipation on whats to come for the 2023 season.