Los Angeles and London, 1 June 2017: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is to honour Riot Games, creators of the BAFTA-winning League of Legends, with a Special Award at an event at The London West Hollywood on Monday 12 June. The activity, which takes place during the E3 games conference in Los Angeles, is part of BAFTA’s growing global games strand in the USA.
The award will be presented to co-CEOs and co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, on behalf of Riot Games, in recognition of the studio’s creative contribution to the games industry. Previous games professionals to receive a BAFTA Special Award include Brenda Romero, Amy Hennig and Markus Persson.
Nick Button-Brown, Chair of BAFTA’s Games Committee, said: “Riot Games has had a major influence on our industry, from the way they work as a company, to the way they have constantly improved and evolved League of Legends, through to their approach in esports and the way they create wonderful must-see events. Their worldwide events, their stadium-filling matches and the generation of stars that they have created have changed the way we and many other industries look at games.
“At BAFTA we aim to champion innovation and creativity. We are therefore delighted to recognise Riot Games with this BAFTA Special Award.”
Riot Games was founded in Los Angeles in 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill. In 2009, Riot released its debut title League of Legends to worldwide acclaim. The game has since gone on to become the most played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports. League of Legends has been continuously refined and polished and continues to grow, with an active and expansive player base. League of Legends esports events fill stadiums around the world, and the game continues to be the most watched on the streaming platform Twitch.
In 2015, League of Legends received the BAFTA for Persistent Game, with further nominations in 2016 and 2017 for the AMD Esports Audience Award, which is presented at the British Academy Games Awards.
Event details:
Monday 12 June at The London West Hollywood, 1020 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069, USA
19.15 Doors Open
19.30 Event begins, Special Award Presentation
20.30 Drinks and Canapes
The event is by invitation only, please contact [email protected] for more information.
For further information:
Elyse Weissman at SLATE PR (US)
T: 310-461-0114
Johanna Hatch at BAFTA (UK)
