League of Legends

An internationally popular multiplayer online battle arena video game, League of Legends was created in 2009 by Riot Games. Commonly called “League,” the game and its myriad offshoots include music videos, comic books, short stories, and the animated series Arcane.
In 2014, Riot’s in-house music team created the virtual heavy metal group Pentakill, a League tie-in project that included cameos from Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe) and Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails). The band’s 2017 album, Grasp of the Undying, was a streaming hit. K/DA, a virtual K-pop girl group, also League adjacent, was partially created to promote a skin line of the same name. The group went viral with their 2018 debut single, “Pop/Stars,” which amassed millions of online views, garnering interest from listeners unfamiliar with its gaming origins. In 2019, Riot unveiled a virtual hip-hop group, True Damage, with the single “Giants.” The following year saw K/DA issue its debut EP, All Out, and in 2021 the company released the soundtrack for the League of Legends animated series Arcane. Riot continued to issue incidental music, themes, and remixes under the League of Legends moniker in 2022 and 2023. ~ James Christopher Monger