As part of a larger unique relationship between the Berlin-based data company and the video game publisher, Riot Games is purchasing an equity stake in GRID.
In accordance with the new three-year contract, GRID will take over as the sole information provider for international games in both League of Legends and Valorant, Riot’s two most popular games. That information is used for everything from media coverage, fan engagement, domestic player evaluation, and controlled betting products, just like in traditional sports like football or soccer.
The agreement is also structured with an ownership aspect, much like partnerships in those sports. No economic information was made public.
For gaming, the partnership’s timing is questionable. Producers, brands, and billionaires poured millions of dollars into franchises and events almost instantly in the middle of the 2010s. Competitive games was among the hottest areas of amusement investment at the time. Some movie activity franchised North American teams modeled after the NFL and NBA were created, such as League of Legends.

Since then, the market has collapsed, necessitating a reevaluation of aggressive gaming’s financial challenges across the board. After six months, Riot’s North American League of Legends loop is losing 10 to eight groups, while Activity Blizzard is dissolving its Overwatch League.
Despite this, League of Legends continues to be one of the most well-liked gaming games worldwide. Operations in North America, Europe, Brazil, Korea, China, and Japan are just a few of Riot’s tournaments. With 30 team at the top of the Champions Tour, Valorant, which made its debut in 2020, has a worldwide reach.
Data collection and distribution are a part of the formalization of games, and both parties hope that this will enhance the fan experience as well as that of ads, advertising organizations, partners, including sports books. In League of Legends, GRID’s data collection makes use of metrics like kill rates, metal difference, and game objectives.
Doug Watson, Riot’s head of business strategy across global games, said in a statement,” Through our partnership, we can increase the presence of official sports information in the ecosystem and the market, enabling growth, development, and more leisure price for the followers.”
For the past two decades, GRID has been collaborating with Riot on Valorant. This agreement, which begins next year, will extend that job. All League of Legends competitions ‘ data collection and distribution will also be handled by GRID, a project supported by Sportradar ( Nasdaq: SRAD ) and formerly held by Bayes.
GRID was established in 2018 by Mikael Westerling ( now CSO ), Chris King ( current CTO ), and Moritz Maurer ( recent CEO ). Producers like Riot Game, Ubisoft, and Krafton are among the alliances and more than 100 employees of the company. NFL wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and Bumble Ventures are owners.
Riot Games is entirely owned by Tencent, a Chinese technology behemoth.