Riot Games is scaling back some of its e-sports spending for League of Legends

You may not care for e-sports, but you can’t deny that they bring in big money. Look at Riot Games, which has invested tons of money into League of Legends as a professional competitive game, and you’ll see that these investments make a ton of money for the game. Except it appears that they do not make a ton of money, as players noted the company is scaling back and global head of e-sports Derrick Asiedu confirmed that the company is cutting costs in certain areas.

This means that we’re holding ourselves more accountable to net income targets (as in revenue minus cost) than we have historically. We’re a long way from breaking even (revenue minus cost equaling 0), and are trying to see if on the cost side, there are things we can cut or scale back that fans don’t care about, while continuing to invest in the areas fans do care about.

Asiedu also stated that the studio is fine with the costs because it feels that the benefit brought by the e-sports side of the game justifies the costs, but it’s notable that the company is scaling back some of its expenses. Certainly it’s an interesting change in light of the concept that the competitive scene is a good way to make money.