Both seasons of League of Legends spin-off Arcane cost a total of approximately $250m USD to create and promote, making it the most expensive animated series of all time.
That’s according to a new report by Variety, with sources telling the publication the $250m figure covered production and promotion costs for Arcane’s two seasons, comprised of 18 episodes in total. The show’s first nine episodes are said to have seen a production cost “north of $80m”, while the second set of nine episodes – which will make up the show’s final season – reportedly had a production cost “approaching” the $100m mark.
Variety claims development costs were pushed up due to “a labour-intensive approach and frequent cost overruns triggered by delayed script deliveries after the second season was put into production with only a fraction of the season written”.
In addition, League of Legends developer Riot reportedly spent $60m promoting the first season of the animated spin-off, which released on Netflix in 2021. Variety says this figure is more than other studios would ordinarily spend to promote a show they weren’t distributing.
When the publication asked Riot about Arcane’s price tag, Riot co-founder and chief product officer Marc Merrill said, “We’re more than comfortable with the spend it took to deliver a show that was worthy of our players’ time.” Merrill refrained from confirming or denying whether the reported $250m figure was accurate.
The Riot exec added the company’s “ambitions in entertainment haven’t changed” since Arcane’s release. “We were never intending to operate like a traditional studio with traditional timelines,” Merrill said. “What did change as we learned more was our expectations of ourselves: We realised that getting it right takes a lot more time than we’d originally expected, and so we recalibrated our development, output goals and teams with that in mind.”
Arcane’s second season is set to air on Netflix, starting 9th November. As for season one, our Chris called it “a thrill, full of welcome colour and life” in Eurogamer’s review (which was based on the first four episodes), although he still had a few reservations. Following its debut, Arcane subsequently won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.