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Riot Games makes and runs free-to-play online games, led by League of Legends and Valorant, and earns money by selling in-game extras to players.
Riot Games is a video game maker best known for two big free-to-play titles: League of Legends and Valorant. Millions of people around the world download these games for nothing and play them online, often for years. Riot is based in Los Angeles and was founded in 2006 by two gamers, Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, who wanted to build games they themselves would want to play.
The money model is simple on its face: the games are free, so the widest possible audience can join. Riot then sells cosmetic extras — character skins, weapon looks, battle passes and the like — that change how things look but don't make you stronger. Players spend money because they want to stand out or show loyalty, not because they have to. That keeps the playing field fair and the business running on optional purchases rather than a paywall. League of Legends launched in 2009 and became one of the biggest PC games in the world, and it grew into a whole ecosystem: a annual world championship that fills arenas, professional leagues, and a spin-off card game and animated series. Valorant, a tactical shooter, arrived in 2020 and quickly became a major esport in its own right. Riot is owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, which bought the company outright in 2015, so Riot itself is private even though its parent trades publicly.
The appeal is the deep, competitive, team-based gameplay and the constant stream of new characters and updates that keep players coming back. Riot's challenge is the same one every game company faces: tastes change, new hits come and go, and it has to keep its two giants fresh while launching new titles that might or might not catch on. So far, that bet on free games plus cosmetic sales has paid off handsomely.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Nov 2026