Riot Sydney
Riot Sydney (formerly BigWorld Technology and Wargaming Sydney) is an Australian software company, formed in 2002 by John De Margheriti. It was the developer of BigWorld, a middleware development tool suite for creating massively multiplayer online games (MMO) and virtual worlds. It was the first company that developed a middleware platform for the MMO market. In 2007, BigWorld was recognised by the UK's Develop magazine as an industry leader.
| Formerly | BigWorld Technology (2002-2012) Wargaming Sydney (2012-2022) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
Key people | Steve Wang (CEO) Simon Hayes (CTO) |
Number of employees | ~65 (2013) |
| Parent | Wargaming (2012-2022) Riot Games (2022-present) |
On 7 August 2012, Wargaming — which had used BigWorld as part of the infrastructure for games such as World of Tanks — acquired BigWorld Technology for $45 million. Wargaming stated that it would continue to license and support BigWorld, and foresaw the possibility that it could offer its technologies with BigWorld for third-party licensors. The studio was operated as Wargaming Sydney. On 17 October 2022, Wargaming sold the studio to Riot Games for an undisclosed amount, renaming it to Riot Sydney; the sale excluded the BigWorld technology itself and the studio's publishing arm, which will be retained by Wargaming.