Riot is expanding into Australia, acquires Wargaming Sydney

Riot Games is expanding its stable of internal development studios by acquiring Wargaming Sydney in a move that will give the global company a foothold in Australia as it aims to further its ability to create new titles and tools. 

Wargaming Sydney will be officially rebranded to Riot Sydney following the acquisition from the parent company Wargaming, the company behind popular titles like World of Tanks and World of Warships. 

“We are really excited to bring these talented developers and teams to Riot,” said Riot co-founder and chairman of games Marc Merrill. “The Rioters that have had the opportunity to work with members of the Sydney team are confident not only in the tech they’ve built over the years but, more importantly, in the people who’ve built it. Naz (Naresh Hirani, head of development, Riot Sydney) and the dev teams at the studio have a long history of working in ways that will complement Riot’s ability to deliver value to our players and we really look forward to collaborating with them.”

While operating as Wargaming Sydney, after being acquired in August 2012, the studio was one of the largest developers in Australia and largely worked as a support studio for Wargaming titles but has also helped other companies like Gung Ho Online and Netease with games like Grandia Online. 

Overall, the studio’s BigWorld Technology was powering more than 30 global MMO titles at one time over its 25-year history—which set a Guinness World Record for most players online simultaneously on one MMO server.

That expertise in working with global development teams and creating next-generation game development tools and servers will now be used to help Riot further improve League of Legends, VALORANT, and general tech productions within the company under Riot’s Development Studios.

“Being part of Wargaming has been a phenomenal journey for us over the last 10 years, and it’s helped our studio grow and thrive,” Hirani said. “We were really impressed by the cultural fit we’ve experienced in our dealings with everyone at Riot, and we can’t wait to bring our expertise in global development to the respective teams. I know I speak for the whole team when I say how excited we all are to become part of Riot and help deliver amazing experiences to players.”

This move brings all of the former Wargaming Sydney development staff under Riot’s umbrella, while the publishing team that worked within the studio will remain a part of Wargaming proper.

Wargaming will also maintain the rights to BigWorld Technology, which has been integral to the success of the company’s many free-to-play online titles over the years.