Profits soar at Irish arm of ‘League of Legends’ company

PRE-TAX profits at the Irish arm of US game firm Riot Games increased by 33pc last year to €7.19m, up from €5.4m in 2015.

Revenues at the Dublin-based Riot Games Ltd rose by €14m, or 5pc, from €305m.4m to €319.2m in the 12 months to the end of December last.

The Irish-based company derives its income from its online multiplayer battle arena computer video game, League of Legends.

Riot Games established a European, Middle East and African HQ here in 2010. At the end of last year, it employed 128 people.

The directors said that the principal activity of the company was localisation, marketing and support of the players of the company’s League of Legends.

The game, which was first released in 2009, is one of the world’s most popular in streaming media communities on platforms such as YouTube.

Last year, Riot Games estimated that there were over 100 million active players each month and the game’s popularity has led it to expand into merchandise, with toys, accessories and apparel, as well as tie-ins to other media

Numbers employed by the company last year fell from 138 to 128, with 91 in operations, 27 in administration and 10 in localisation. Staff costs increased from €11.1m to €12m.

The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €9.6m, along with non-cash amortisation costs of €292,563.

The firm also paid out €126m in royalty changes to group undertaking.

Riot Games was only established in 2006 in Los Angeles. In 2015, staff at the Irish unit moved into a three-floor, custom-built office along the River Liffey.