Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and e-sports tournament organizer based in West Los Angeles, California. The company is best known for League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena game, and has produced several spin-offs in the same franchise. Riot also operates various e-sports tournaments for the game, including the League of Legends World Championship, the Championship Series, the European Championship, and the Mid-Season Invitational.
Riot games is a billion-dollar daughter company under the ownership of Tencent.
Mark Merrill was born on August 17, 1980 in California in United States. Mr. Mark Merrill is a co-founder of a known company Riot games who also serves as the chairman of the same company. Although Marc Merrill and Riot Games are not as popular as compared to other names found on this website. However, they have created a legacy in the history of video games.
League of Legends is often cited as the world's largest esport, with an international competitive scene. The 2019 League of Legends World Championship had over 100 million unique viewers, peaking at a concurrent viewership of 44 million
He graduated from USC (University of Southern California) with very high grades and in time.
The two co-founders, Brandon Beck, and Marc Merrill met when they attended the University of Southern California. Roommates, they quickly bonded over their passion for games. However, they didn’t think about making a game from the get-go. After college, the two worked office jobs but quickly became dissatisfied with their lives. In an interview with Polygon, Beck mentioned that they had gone to live together in Los Angeles, and it was in their home that Riot Games was created. Their furniture hadn’t even been put up yet, yet their PCs had already been set up, ready for them. Beck states, “You’d walk into our apartment, and there’s pretty much no furniture anywhere, nothing on the walls, picture frames that haven’t been put up yet. And two massive gaming rigs at two desks that formed a little ‘L.’ That was just the thing we liked to do together at the time.”
Frustrated that developers would put up games, and drop them quickly without engaging with their community, the pair wanted a game that would go the distance, with developers that would constantly tweak the system and consult with their community. They were inspired by “Defense of the Ancients”, a custom map created by Steve “Guinsoo” Feak for the game “Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne”. Feak was the first person they recruited, and together they began to create, and refine League of Legends. They didn’t want to follow the western video game industry, making game after game, but instead took notice of some Asian video game designers, who made completely free-to-play games, but charged for perks within the game itself. With all that in mind, along with funding from various venture capital firms, League of Legends was released on October 27, 2009.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_Games
https://www.wortholino.com/marc-merrill-net-worth-bio/
https://medium.com/@williamlim3/legendary-the-story-of-league-of-legends-from-2009-2018-68c578a0563f