BAFTA to honour Riot Games' Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill at E3
League of Legends developers to receive Special Award in Los Angeles this week
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced it will host a one-off event to recognise the achievements of the leaders behind one of the world's biggest esports sensations.
Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, the co-founders and co-CEO of League of Legends developer Riot Games, will receive the Academy's Special Award during a ceremony around this month's E3 conference.
The award is part of BAFTA's attempts to grow its games efforts beyond the UK. GamesIndustry.biz is also upping the ante around this year's E3 with daily special briefings - find out more and sign up here.
Beck and Merrill's honour is in recognition of their "creative contribution to the games industry". The duo set up Riot Games back in 2006, releasing League of Legends three years later - itself a winner of multiple BAFTA Awards.
"Riot Games has had a major influence on our industry, from the way they work as a company, to the way they have constantly improved and evolved League of Legends, through to their approach in esports and the way they create wonderful must-see events," said BAFTA's games committee chair Nick Button-Brown.
"Their worldwide events, their stadium-filling matches and the generation of stars that they have created have changed the way we and many other industries look at games. At BAFTA we aim to champion innovation and creativity. We are therefore delighted to recognise Riot Games with this BAFTA Special Award."
Beck and Merrill will be presented with their award during a ceremony on Monday, June 12th at the London West Hollywood hotel in Los Angeles.
They join the list of previous winner, which includes Amy Hennig, Markus Persson and Brenda Romero. The latter received her award back in March, and GamesIndustry.biz was on hand to learn more about her career and accomplishments.