The Riot Games Music Team is Tearing Through the Gaming Industry

Riot Games recently released the GODS music video by New Jeans. As usual, it quickly became a quick hit in the community not only because of the group playing it but also because of the song itself. The Riot Games music team has outdone themselves again. As this trend continues, is the company on a path to set an example to other game companies to put a heavier priority on creating music to promote their games.

Riot Games releases GODS by New Jeans

GODS by New Jeans is the newest song from the Riot Games Music Team. People are quick to compare it to old Worlds Songs with many fans not really loving it while others are calling it a masterpiece. Regardless of their opinion, the song already has 8.8 million views on League of Legends’ official YouTube channel and has already been shared and discussed across all platforms millions of times.

The most exciting part about the new music video is the fact that New Jeans was the one who performed the song. This alone has drawn so many people to take a look at the game and add some new players to the game. The music video also sparked some interest in the esports scene since it involved a lot of major names in the history of gaming such as Faker, Deft, and Rekkles being included in the cinematic.

The Riot Games Music Team’s Success Over the Years

Music has always played a big part in gaming. Even during the early stages of music, simple electronic music in games like Pokemon can be recognized even by casual fans today. However, many gaming companies opted to stick with the tried and tested formula of having orchestral music with little to no lyrics. The Riot Games Music Team went against this formula and invested in both rising talents and big names to create original soundtracks for their game.

The Riot Games Music Team has been tearing through the gaming industry by creating both non-lyrical and lyrical music that remains relevant in terms of Runeterra’s themes and among casual fans who just want to listen to something catchy. League of Legends’ musical journey is so successful that even third parties have managed to release extremely popular songs that relate to the game and its esports scene.

The biggest success of Riot Games’ musical journey was the various Worlds Anthems. These songs became iconic pieces of music in the gaming industry due to their replayability. The first few songs didn’t stand out too much but it was when the song – Legends Never Die – came out that all of Riot Games’ songs stood out to the ears of the public. Their music team only gained more prominence since then.

Today, Riot Games is able to get big names like Lil Nas X and New Jeans to record a song for them and even perform at their live events. This means that it’s easier to draw large crowds to their events since League of Legends fans can invite their non-gamer friends to join just to enjoy the musical segment of the tournament. This creates a healthy environment in the space. Even VALORANT is beginning to drop epic songs that fans have begun to appreciate.

Is It Important to Make Original Songs For Video Games?

Games already have a ton of original soundtracks. However, there aren’t a lot of games that have their original songs. Even those games that host major tournaments don’t bother commissioning artists to perform at live events with songs intended for the game. Having orchestral music performed at live events is good, but being able to host an event that tries to replicate the Superbowl can definitely provide the attendees with an experience they’ll never forget.

Outside of esports events, having music videos still provides a lot of value to the game itself. Music is a great marketing tool to urge players to play the game and boost the active player count on the website which boosts the confidence of the community to keep player retention for the long term. At one point in your life, you probably listened to a song that motivated you to play a game or do a task/action that you weren’t planning to do before you heard the upbeat music give you the energy that you needed.

Can Riot Games’ Success Be Attributed to its Music?

Not entirely but to say that the impact of Riot’s music did not help lay the foundation for League of Legends’ long-term success is simply incorrect. Every League of Legends player probably has at least one song that they really enjoy. Whether it’s the upbeat music that is Legends Never Die or the meme-worthy song that is Silver Scrapes, League of Legends has a lot of iconic songs that fans absolutely love listening to whenever they get a chance.

Many players enjoy the music that Riot Games rolls out. There are definitely a couple thousand people in the world who excitedly await new pieces of music to be released by Riot Games so they can add it to their custom playlist that they will put on full blast whenever they go on a gaming session. Having your own dedicated gaming playlist to listen to can definitely give you more motivation to play more games and rank up.

The Future of Music in Gaming

The rest of the gaming world still favors having orchestral music over lyrical songs. While that may not necessarily be a bad idea, it’s definitely worth investing resources in having major and upcoming artists create an original song for your game that players can add to their playlists. The Riot Games Music Team definitely acknowledges the importance of having these types of music being promoted in their games and they’re willing to bring big names to their recording studio.

Riot Games should make more original songs like their As We Fall song that explain Varus’ lore very well. Having champion themes are nice but it might not be practical to have over 160 original songs being commissioned for each character in the game. However, being able to hear all these beautiful scores at events like the Asian Games, Mid-Season Invitationals, or Worlds is definitely something they should do more in the future.