Netflix is certainly hoping Arcana season 2 will bring in some big bucks, as the entire show is apparently the most expensive animated series ever produced.
League of Legends developer Riot and Netflix are both obviously very successful companies and likely have a lot of cash to spend on various projects. We’ve seen Netflix invest heavily in programming before, hoping to attract more subscribers with some big shows. Arcane is clearly a smart move considering League of Legends already has a huge audience, but it’s unclear how much it cost to make. In addition to a new report from Variety , Riot is reportedly spending an incredible $250 million over two 18-episode seasons.
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For context, this makes it the most expensive animated series ever produced, whether on streaming or traditional television. According to Variety’s sources, the payout clearly reflects Riot’s lack of experience in entertainment production (presumably TV entertainment, since games are entertainment and League of Legends is very successful). Riot co-founder Marc Merrill stressed to Variety in a statement that the developer’s “ambitions in entertainment have not changed.
“We never set out to operate on a traditional schedule like a traditional studio. As we learned more, our expectations of ourselves changed: We realized that doing things well takes more time than we initially expected , so we’ve realigned our development, output goals and teams with this in mind.”
Merrill didn’t directly comment on the show’s cost, but did say “we feel very comfortable with the cost of delivering a show that’s worth our players’ time,” so whether it’s that much needed to be a financial success seems to be with Riot Nothing to do.
Arcane’s second season is also the show’s final, although Riot does intend to make more shows, so perhaps we’ll get a wider look at the world of League of Legends in future series – however, they’ll likely be cheaper .
