Arcane’s rumored eye-watering budget makes it ‘the most expensive animated series ever’

The second and final season of Neflix’s League of Legends animated series Arcane is already here, and headlines about some behind the scenes drama have come out.

Last week, Variety reported that production costs for the series had ballooned past $250 million, making it the most expensive animated series ever made. According to Variety, this were caused by delays in script deliveries due to the fact that half of them weren’t even finished by the time production on season two was starting, as well as a “labor-intensive approach” to the show’s production. This is also not taking into account the large amounts of money that League developer Riot Games has poured in to promote the series, which is yet another big step in the company’s ambitious leap into entertainment.

After the Variety report came out, several people who have worked on the show have come forward to defend the eye-watering price tag. Showrunner Christian Linke told GamesRadar that not only is the number that Variety reported “not exactly right,” but that the high price is justified due to the fact that he and the rest of the crew wanted to have production values that rival those of animated movies that you see in the theaters. According to them, all of the money that they spent on things such as voice actors and talented artists are “a reflection of the amount of effort that we put into this.”

The effort can clearly be seen in the final product, as Arcane is both a critical and commercial success, getting high ratings on Netflix and winning several awards. The first batch of episodes for season two have gotten high praise also, boding well for League fans trying to spot their favorite character and casual viewers alike when the rest of the season releases later this month. And as we see Riot and more video game companies expand into Hollywood, these budgets might become even wilder.