Riot Games taps Amazon Web Services for AI and Cloud capabilities

Game developer Riot Games has announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of e-commerce company Amazon that provides cloud computing platforms and APIs.

As part of the deal, Riot and AWS said they’d work together to ‘transform’ the way Riot’s esports content is created and distributed in the cloud.

Riot said in a release it would become the first company to use AWS’s data analytics integration for esports broadcasts, which will cover League of Legends, VALORANT and League of Legends: Wild Rift events.

As part of the deal, Riot will use AWS’ portfolio of cloud services to provide new insights and experiences such as esports stats, global power rankings and pick’em. The game developer already uses AWS’ services across its games to design and deploy content to its fans.

Fans can expect to see power rankings and/or pick’em as a featured project this autumn during a hackathon event hosted by Riot and AWS, the companies said. The hackathon will be open to fan-created teams and will give them the chance to build systems that could be adopted by each esports title.

Both companies will co-develop an initial build of the platform and then provide the hackathon participants with AWS’ services and Riot’s data to create a solution to power the esports statistics.

John Needham, President of Esports at Riot Games, commented: “Riot Games has a long-term vision to bring joy to billions of fans around the world through our esports, and we’re extremely excited to work with AWS to level up the Riot Esports experience. 

“The wide-ranging solutions and expertise of AWS will enhance Riot Games’ esports broadcasts and engage esports fans worldwide. From reimagining how fans view our events and content, to interacting with other players, AWS unlocks endless opportunities for Riot to shape the future of sport.”

The news of the collaboration between Riot and Amazon comes after the game developer issued a fine to TSM CEO Andy Dinh last week. The investigation began in November 2021 when former TSM players made accusations against Dinh.