Summary
- Arcane's budget was inaccurately reported as being $250 million, according to Riot's co-founder.
- The actual budget was significantly less than the reported amount.
- Despite Arcane ending in Season 2, Riot plans to explore more League of Legends regions in future stories.
Arcane has made headlines for many reasons in 2024 as the series reached its conclusion in Season 2. One piece of news that turned heads was Arcane’s alleged record-breaking budget, but one of Riot Games’ co-founders has since clarified this number.
Riot Games is best known for creating online multiplayer games League of Legends and Valorant. Arcane is the company’s first official foray into television and the series adapts the stories of several of its champions from League of Legends. The Netflix series is a collaboration between Riot and French animation studio Fortiche, who worked for almost a decade on the project to establish a unique and stunning animated style to convey its story. Both of Arcane’s seasons debuted to a positive reception, with many already eager for more projects from Riot’s expanding League of Legends universe.
Why Did Arcane End After Season 2? The Show's Creator Has an Answer
The Arcane showrunner spoke out about why the series had to end after two seasons despite fans wanting more.
Arcane's Budget Was Less Than Initially Reported
In November a report from Variety revealed the budget for Arcane’s two seasons to be 250 million dollars, which made it by far the most expensive animated TV series of all time. However, it appears that the number was not entirely accurate. Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill told io9 in an interview that the number is inaccurate as it includes expenses for marketing. Merill said the number in actuality was “significantly less” than $250 million, further clarifying it was around 60-70% of that estimate.
"First of all, the $250 million headline is not even accurate because that includes marketing expenses. The actual creation budget is significantly less than that. One of the fascinating things is that once a meme sets into people’s heads, showing up with facts counter to that narrative, it’s sometimes hard to dislodge a perspective, which is just fascinating to observe. It wasn’t quite $250 [million]. It was significantly less than that…"
"...I’ll give you a ballpark range. It’s somewhere between 60 to 75% of that estimate."
This number still marks a high budget for Arcane, with the estimate putting it in the $150-200 million range. However, spread across two seasons and almost ten years of work, it’s hardly a surprising amount of money to spend. Arcane is also Riot’s first television adaptation and was inherently a risk for the company. It was one that ultimately paid off with Arcane winning the praise of critics, the hearts of fans, and quite a few awards. “Seeing the player response and the broader fan response for Arcane has just been rewarding, gratifying, and validating for all the hard work writers have put in for many years,” Merill added in the interview.
What Are Riot's Plans After Arcane?
As for what’s next from Arcane, despite the series ending after two seasons Riot has been clear about its plans to produce more stories from within the same world. Arcane’s co-creator Christian Linke teased that some of the stories they’re exploring may take audiences to the League of Legends regions of Noxus, Demacia, and Ionia, which will no doubt bring a wealth of new characters to attach to. Now that Arcane has established a working formula, Riot will likely have no qualms about spending a similar budget to bring more of its stories to life.
All of Arcane is streaming on Netflix.
Arcane
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2021 - 2024
Arcane is an animated series developed by Alex Yee and Christian Linke that follows a the story of Piltover and Zaun, two pivotal locations in the League of Legends universe. The first season follows the stories of Jynx and Vi, as well as Jayce and Viktor.
- Cast
- Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, Kevin Alejandro, Jason Spisak, Toks Olagundoye, Harry Lloyd, Katie Leung, JB Blanc, Shelby Young, Reed Shannon, Amirah Vann, Mia Sinclair Jenness, Yuri Lowenthal, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Roger Craig Smith, Miles Brown, MIYAVI, Fred Tatasciore, Erica Lindbeck, Krizia Bajos, Bill Lobley, Brett Tucker, Kimberly Brooks, Faustino Duran
- Showrunner
- Christian Linke
- Directors
- Barth Maunoury, Marietta Ren, Christelle Abgrall
- Writers
- Amanda Overton, Nick Luddington, Mollie Bickley St. John, Ben St. John, Giovanna Sarquis, Henry G.M. Jones
- Franchise(s)
- League of Legends
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
