Riot Games has re-organised its leadership in its esports and entertainment segments.
Current esports president John Needham has been appointed president of publishing and esports, and will “create new integrated experiences” that will combine its esports, music, and creative publishing sectors.
Needham was hired as managing director of Europe in 2017, and has since held various leading roles. Prior to Riot, he was head of European publishing at Lionhead and CEO of Cryptic Studios.
Two new studios have been set up to run Riot’s TV film and development efforts, including an animation studio run by creative director Christian Linke and a live-action studio led by chief content officer Brian Wright.
Linke joined Riot in 2010 as a data analyst before becoming a composer on League of Legends in 2011 then the creator and showrunner of Arcane in 2015.
Wright was appointed chief content officer in 2021 following seven years at Netflix as vice president of family content.
“For the past year, we’ve been working to re-orient our organisation and structure to serve players in a more aligned way,” said Riot CEO Dylan Jadeja. “John, Christian, and Brian are all incredible leaders who care deeply about players.
“I have no doubt that, together with our game development teams, they will dream up even more memorable and defining moments players can be proud of.”