The League Of Legends spinoff animated series Arcane has been a massive hit for Netflix, with two seasons now available to watch on the streaming platform. Even non-gamers are apparently loving both seasons of Arcane, spreading the franchise to more people than ever before. However, it seems like things are not always what they seem, as Arcane is not a financial success and did not make money for League Of Legends IP owner Riot Games.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Arcane’s total budget was a whopping US$250 million, but the extravagant and expensive costs aren’t the only reason why it didn’t make money for Riot Games.

The same report cites four people with knowledge of Arcane’s production who spilled the beans that Riot Games did not have a plan to recoup the cost and budget of the series, to the point that even Riot Games parent company Tencent was questioning why they spent so much on making an overrated animated spinoff.

Again, there’s more, as Riot Games employees themselves were wary and sceptical of the overrated series. Some of them even tried to make sure fewer resources were wasted on making the series, according to six current and former staffers. Why? Because resources spent for Arcane meant that there were less resources made available for League Of Legends, the actual game that Arcane was based off.

In addition, the Bloomberg report also mentions that interviews with Riot Games employees and industry analysts indicate it was a commercial failure for the company. Basically, Riot spent so much of its own money developing and marketing the show that they did not make money from the production. Arcane also failed to convert many new players or get existing players to spend more money on League Of Legends. So, what was the point of such an overrated series?

In the meantime, check out our review of Arcane Season 2 by heading over here.

Arcane Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Netflix.