Riot buys Wargaming Sydney to accelerate live service development

League of Legends developer Riot Games has acquired Wargaming Sydney for an undisclosed fee.

Riot said the move will allow it to accelerate the development of live service titles. Following the purchase, the studio will be renamed Riot Sydney and will continue to operate out of its current premises.

Riot Sydney will be tasked with supporting the League of Legends, Valorant, and tech teams at Riot, and is expected to become a "key contributor" under the guidance of Riot's head of development studios, Molly Mason-Boule.

"We are really excited to bring these talented developers and teams to Riot,” said Marc Merrill, Riot co-founder, and president of games. "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."

Riot Sydney worked on a number of key franchises under the Wargaming banner, including World of Tanks and World of Warships. The studio, formerly known as Bigworld Technology, was purchased by Wargaming in 2012 after developing server technology that was used to power over 30 MMOs.

Although the entire Wargaming Sydney development team is joining Riot, the existing publishing team will remain part of Wargaming. The World of Tanks developer will also maintain ownership of certain Bigworld tech for use in its products.