League of Legends also has a TV show in development

DOTA 2 and Netflix have released a trailer for the studio’s upcoming animated television show. Valve is using its vast lore and legendary game depth to create a series to expand on the game’s narrative while also reaching a wider audience.

But Valve isn’t the only studio with eyes towards a serialized show around its MOBA. Riot Games announced in October of 2019 that the studio will be independently creating its own show about its universe. While the release date was recently pushed back because of the pandemic, the trailer and concept are still circulating online.

Arcane: Animated Series in development

For the game’s 10th anniversary, Riot announced a new series created in-house with Fortiche Production, a French 3D animation studio that has worked with Riot before on its recent cinematics.

The series, called Arcane, will focus on two of the main cities from the game’s lore, Piltover and Zaun. Piltover is an upper class, beautiful mountainside city while Zaun is the dark underbelly of Piltover located below it with dank pipes and criminals roaming within it.

As for the planned story, the only information released was that the series will follow the origins of two of the game’s most iconic characters and what drove them apart from each other. Based on the tidbits of information dropped from the trailer, and the hair color of the main characters, many have speculated that this will be the story of Vi and Jinx.

In the lore of the game, the champions are sisters as well as rivals with Vi, the police officer, trying to catch Jinx, the loose cannon criminal. This series looks to be an explanation for how these characters became rivals and what drew them into the fight of good versus evil.

DOTA: Dragon’s Blood vs. Arcane

While Valve has partnered with Netflix to create its animated show, Riot Games decided to craft the series itself, giving the developer complete creative control. Arcane will also follow a specific story that has been lined out in the game’s lore already, albeit by fleshing out aspects that have yet to be covered or revealed.

Dragon’s Blood, on the other hand, seems to be an independent story within the Dota 2 universe. Following a renowned Dragon Knight and his adventures fighting evil across the land.

Both series signal an important milestone for Valve and Riot, with animated shows about video games have blown up recently. League of Legends and Dota 2 also have lore that is rich with stories that can be told in a serialized manner fit for a television series.