History of Riot Games: Timeline, Tencent & Major Games
A source-verified history of Riot Games from its 2006 founding and League of Legends launch through Tencent ownership, esports, VALORANT, Arcane, and its 2026 portfolio.
Read the researchIndependent research library
A library for the facts that get flattened.
Deep histories, clean timelines, and current-status trackers built from primary records and careful reporting—not copied summaries.
Independent publication — not affiliated with or endorsed by Riot Games.
The inaugural collection
Riot Games, without the folklore
Our first collection follows Riot from a 2006 startup to a multi-game and entertainment company. It keeps ownership percentages tied to dates, product development separate from server status, and allegations separate from legal outcomes.
Who Owns Riot Games? Tencent Ownership Timeline
Tencent's Riot Games ownership explained with filing-backed dates, the 22.34% and 92.78% stakes, the 2015 purchase, and what the evidence does not show.
Read the researchRiot Games Projects: Every Game and Codename's Status
A dated tracker for Riot Games products and projects, including League, VALORANT, 2XKO, the MMO, Project F, Riftbound, Riot Forge, and Hytale.
Read the researchIs 2XKO Shutting Down? Development and Server Status
What Riot's August 2026 announcement says about 2XKO development, servers, offline play, refunds, and what happens after December.
Read the researchRiot MMO Status: What's Confirmed and What Isn't
A careful timeline of Riot's unnamed Runeterra MMO, its 2024 reset, current development evidence, and the release-date claims the evidence cannot support.
Read the researchWhat “evidence-first” means
Useful certainty. Visible uncertainty.
The aim is not to sound definitive. It is to be exactly as definite as the public evidence allows.
Dates travel with current facts. A status can be true today and stale next month. Every live claim gets a verification date.
Sources sit beside claims. Filings establish ownership. Court orders establish obligations. Company posts establish what a company announced.
Different metrics stay different. Registrations, monthly users, daily users, and peak concurrency never become one misleading “player count.”
Silence is not cancellation. An unannounced date remains unannounced. An unclear project remains unclear until stronger evidence appears.
Research controls
Built to be checked
The Riot collection currently resolves 290 controlled claims to 100 source records and 120 timeline milestones. The public site exposes the useful parts while withholding incomplete registers that do not meet our sourcing standard.
100controlled sources
120timeline milestones
290claim-register rows
1visible research cutoff
Start with the complete Riot Games history.
Founding, League, Tencent, esports, technology, VALORANT, Arcane, workplace history, acquisitions, and the 2024–2026 refocus.