Riot Games is owned by Tencent (China, HKEX: 0700), which acquired the brand on 16 December 2015.[1] Riot Games was founded in 2006 in Los Angeles, California and was independent until 2015.
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Riot Games makes League of Legends and Valorant. Tencent bought a majority in 2011 and took full ownership in 2015, so one of the largest American game studios has been Chinese-owned for a decade. It has since built games in other genres set in the same world, and its animated series Arcane won an Emmy, which is rare for an adaptation of a video game.
Tencent is a publicly listed company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, founded in 1998. Brandtree records 5 brands under its control, and it is listed as HKEX: 0700.
Tencent is the largest video game company in the world by revenue, and it owns studios far better known than it is. It also runs WeChat, which combines messaging, payments and services in a way that has no Western equivalent and is close to unavoidable in daily Chinese life.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States.
478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Riot Games among them.
Tencent took full ownership of Riot Games, having bought a majority in 2011. It means League of Legends, among the most played PC games in the world for over a decade, and the Los Angeles studio that makes it have been Chinese-owned since. The price was not disclosed.
The parent company of Riot Games is Tencent, a publicly listed company headquartered in China.
Is Riot Games American or Chinese?
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Riot Games originated in the United States in 2006, but it is owned today by Tencent, which is headquartered in China. So Riot Games is an American-origin brand under Chinese ownership.
When did Tencent buy Riot Games?
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Tencent completed its acquisition of Riot Games on 16 December 2015, after announcing the deal on 16 December 2015. The price was not disclosed.
Who owned Riot Games before Tencent?
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Riot Games was an independent company from its founding in 2006 in Los Angeles, California until Tencent acquired it in 2015.
Is Riot Games still owned by Tencent?
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Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Riot Games is still owned by Tencent. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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