Ghostcrawler from Riot Games has announced that the animated series Arcane is being delayed until 2021 as a result of complications brought on by COVID-19. In a statement that was released on the League of Legends website, the head of creative development had this to say:
*Sigh* due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we unfortunately have to delay the worldwide release of our first animated series, Arcane, to 2021.
Creative development and production is hard, especially in a world where you can’t see your coworkers IRL. We have video meetings now, which help, but they are no substitute for being in a room where we can really get the creative energy flowing. Combine these issues, along with the technical difficulties of production at the international scale, and the problem becomes a lot bigger. Props to our amazing creative partner, Fortiche, who has continued to do everything they can to keep moving Arcane forward.
Arcane is an animated television series set in the League of Legends universe. The series was announced at the League of Legends 10th Anniversary celebrations, will be developed and produced by Riot, animated by Fortiche Productions, and its first season is was expected to be released this year but that is no longer the case.
Our Take
Here’s the thing. I’m not completely buying that this isn’t as a result of internal management issues. A big part of this is here:
We have video meetings now, which help, but they are no substitute for being in a room where we can really get the creative energy flowing.
I’ve been using video conference tools in business for five years, we definitely have the tech to have creative meetings. Every major network, including Netflix, FOX, and the like, are successfully using these methods to get the job done. If you’re in a meeting, and you are unable to inspire your fellow team members, then that’s on the manager of those meetings to be better that their job. The means in which to do the meeting is inconsequential to the results.
John is the Chief Editor and Founder of Bubbleblabber.com. While at first a part-time project, Bubbleblabber quickly grew into a full-fledged operation and officially became a company in 2014. When John isn't running a business full-time, he likes to go to concerts with your mother.
"There are also other characters that come and go (also owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate media company)."
Huh. Is that just referring to other characters from the show itself, or is this implying that the new season is going to have cameos from other WBD IPs