Riot Games are bringing their catalog of games to Xbox Game Pass for PC. The titles joining the platform not only feature their major console and PC games such as Valorant and League of Legends, but also mobile titles such as Legend of Runeterra and Wild Rift.
The new agreement marks a major new collaboration between the Tencent-owned MOBA giant and Microsoft’s cloud gaming service which has been growing in popularity.
Riot Games are promoting the addition of their titles by offering special rewards to players that link their Xbox and Riot Accounts on multiple titles. These include various in-game items and special bonuses as an extra incentive to sign up and play.
Riot Games have been continuing to invest in their mobile games range, which landed them at #5 on our Top 50 Game Makers of 2022, so it seems only natural they’d want to partner with one of the larger cloud gaming services and get them to the attention of even more players.
Closer relations?
In addition to the obvious commercial angles on the move it could indicate an attempt by Tencent-owned Riot Games to grow proxy relations between Microsoft and Tencent ahead of the hotly anticipated Activision-Blizzard acquisition. It may also indicate that even if that acquisition does not go through, there is a willingness to work with Microsoft in the future to expand the reach of its brand and catalog.
Prior to the move Runeterra was already available on PC, while a console port of Wild Rift had been in the works for a while. However, it does mark a relatively sudden shift of the latter onto PC, where the majority of Riot’s usual audience resides.
Although Riot have refocused their eSports plans for League of Legends: Wild Rift solely to Asia their games still remain immensely popular. It’s therefore unsurprising that, given they’re already free to play, making them available on more platforms is a top priority.
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