League of Legends Developer Buys Out Stonehearth Studio

Riot Games has been a growing power in the gaming world, which is a little surprising, considering it’s only ever made one game, being League of Legends. Of course, the power and strength of the League of Legends name can’t be understated, it’s one of the biggest esports in the world and it’s got a massive player-base that’s constantly growing. Still, for the size of the studio and the magnitude of their success, it seems a bit strange they haven’t expanded into new territory by now. Surely with their manpower they could start making new games--either Spin-Off of League of Legends to expand the world and setting, or a new IP entirely.

Recent events seem to suggest, however, they’re certainly eyeballing the possibility: as it was recently announced that they have purchased Radiant Entertainment, the developers behind Rising Thunder and Stonehearth, for an undisclosed amount of money. This will be the first time Riot Games has ever purchased a smaller studio.
 

"We are delighted to announce that Radiant Entertainment has been acquired by Riot Games. At Riot, our developers will continue their mission of building incredible games that speak to us personally as players. First and foremost, Stonehearth will go on, full speed ahead. We'll continue delivering Alphas at our current pace, with the aim of delivering the final game "when it's ready." We'll continue keeping you up to date on our progress through things like our Twitch streams and Desktop Tuesday blog posts. As for Rising Thunder, the team will start work on a new game that we're incredibly excited about. We wish we could say more now, but rest assured you'll hear more when the time is right. For now, we will be permanently closing Rising Thunder on March 18th. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Alpha!"

So it’s not enough that Riot Games bought this developer, but they’re also going to be starting on a new game? I really wouldn’t be surprised to find it was a League of Legends spin-off, but I find it would be equally unsurprising if it was new title altogether--even Riot has to get tired of Valoran from time to time. It’s good that Stonehearth will continue uninterrupted: I’ll admit I haven’t heard much about the game, but from what I’ve seen, its fan-base is dedicated and would be heartbroken if something were to happen to it.

Still… why did Riot Games choose Radiant? What are they planning, exactly? Hmmm… things are going to get interesting in the next couple of months, I feel…