Riot Games acquires Wargaming Sydney

League of Legends developer Riot Games has acquired Wargaming's development studio in Sydney, Australia.

The acquisition: The deal was closed on October 17.

• Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
• The studio will be rebranded as Riot Sydney and its team of developers will join the Tencent-owned company, whereas publishing staff will remain with Wargaming.
• Riot will utilize its Sydney studio's experience with game developer tools and servers, games, and R&D projects to enhance titles such as League of Legends and VALORANT.
• “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," said Riot Games President of Games Marc Merrill.

The studio: It has a storied history.

• Wargaming acquired the studio for $45M in 2012.
• It was originally founded as BigWorld in 2002 and its technology was utilized in over 30 titles.
• The studio's time with Wargaming included making popular titles World of Tanks and World of Warships.
• Now, as part of Riot Games, the studio will be a "key contributor" to Riot's Development Studios. "Over time, Riot is looking forward to growing the game industry in Australia," a release states.