Riot Games announced today that it will open a new Remote Broadcast (RBC) and Content Production Centre in Dublin, Ireland as part of its drive to continuously innovate and advance its digital broadcast and production capabilities for esports as well as super serve players and fans.
Riot Games and its Esports Technology Group (ETG) is growing to enable efficient, game-agnostic production of esports content, through technical innovation, standardized workflows, and shared infrastructure. The RBC in Dublin will be the first of up to three facilities in a global follow-the-sun model, with each RBC having the ability to produce six events simultaneously across production and audio rooms, bullpens and live stages, all built upon a scalable technology backbone for future growth.
Commenting on the announcement, Allyson Gormley, General Manager at Riot Games’ first RBC in Dublin said: “As global esports explodes in popularity, Riot Games finds itself in need of new production and operations workflows that better serve our multi-product future with LoL Esports, VALORANT Champions Tour, Wild Rift Esports, and more. As part of our drive to continuously innovate and advance our digital broadcast and production capabilities, Riot Games is excited to expand our global footprint to include this new Remote Production Broadcast Centre (RBC) in Dublin.”
The new Riot Games RBC will be located in Airside Retail Park, Swords, Co Dublin and will create 120+ jobs across Broadcast Engineering, Production, Control Crew, and Event Production.
The company is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
Riot Games have partnered with NEP Ireland to provide technical production staffing and support at the facility in Swords. NEP Ireland is a division of NEP Group, the leading media technology partner for content creators around the globe. Roles will be advertised on www.riotgames.com and www.nepgroup.ie/talent in the coming weeks.
“We are delighted to be working on this project with Riot, further recognising Ireland’s global reputation as a hub for delivering world class production content. This partnership will see us grow and develop our talent base in Ireland and shall provide a great opportunity to attract diverse talent from under-represented backgrounds,” Steve Curran, NEP Ireland.
Welcoming the news Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD said: “This is great news for the esports sector in Ireland. Riot Games is world renowned and the fact that the team has chosen Dublin as one of three locations globally to establish a new Remote Production Broadcast Centre, creating over 120 jobs, is a real vote of confidence in what we have to offer. We introduced a new tax credit as part of the Budget, which will, we hope, encourage the digital games industry to grow here. The very best of luck to the Riot Games team, I wish them every success.”
Riot Games first set up its EMEA Headquarters in Ireland in 2010 and has grown over the past decade to 165 employees in its Dublin city centre office. Up until now, its primary focus was on business operations, engineering, information security, publishing, live services and product development for its games. Alan Bridgeman, Managing Director, Riot Games commenting on Riot’s further investment in Dublin and expanding to a second Dublin location: “We chose Dublin for this strategically important investment because we are confident in the tech talent available, the attractive business environment, and our positive experience of serving our players from across Europe since we first set up here.”
Allyson Gormley, Riot Games closing: “Pulling off a project and build of this magnitude is a colossal undertaking in any circumstance, let alone in a pandemic.”
However, Gormley credits the Riot Games team in Ireland and around the globe for staying focused in order to get the job done. ”We’ve been very lucky to be surrounded by teams, both internally and externally, who have partnered with us to make sure our ambitious goal to stand up this facility by January 2022 could be achieved. From the teams at Henry J.Lyons Architects, Structure Tone GC, Fingal County Council, KMCS, AXIS and DMG Engineering plus NEP to name but a few, to get to where we are today would simply not have been possible without their partnership. In a nutshell, the innovation and approach to this project speaks to the culture at Riot – we push ourselves further than we are comfortable because we believe when outside our comfort zone that’s when the magic happens. We have one singular mission: we are trying to bring joy to billions of fans around the world. We think this gets us closer to that goal.”
Mary Buckley, Executive Director of IDA Ireland said “Riot Games decision to expand its global footprint to include a new Remote Production Broadcast Centre (RBC) in Dublin marks Ireland’s entry into an exciting new and developing sector and illustrates confidence in Ireland to deliver on its esports capabilities globally. It’s also a strong endorsement of our talented workforce. I welcome Riot Games ongoing commitment to Ireland and wish them every success with their new RBC Centre.”
