Arcane, the first animated series inspired by a video game to win an award in this category: Netflix bet and won

Netflix’s animated series Arcane, based on League of Legends, has won the Emmy Award for Best Animated Series, becoming the first streaming series to win in this category.

The interesting part is that it beat out many promising titles, including Bob’s Burgers, Rick and Morty, The Simpsons and What If…, hosted by the late Chadwick Boseman. “We felt that was a big problem for us because we come from the video game niche. It was amazing to see people embrace our characters and stories,” said Arcane co-creator Christian Linke.

The cast of Arcane includes Ella Purnell (Jinx), Hailee Steinfeld (Vi) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn) and was recently confirmed for a second season, also on Netflix, suggesting the streamer is willing to take a chance on big-budget game-based productions.

Arcane’s first season has received excellent reviews

The first season of Arcane enjoyed nearly 34.2 million hours of viewing in its first week in the Netflix top 10, placing second at the time. It also received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike.

Riot Games and Arcane Fortiche worked together to introduce Jinx to League of Legends in 2013 and plan to join forces for “other projects to be announced” in addition to Arcane, though further details have not been made public.

What if…? didn’t leave the Creative Arts Emmy Awards empty-handed either. Boseman received a posthumous award for his contribution to the first season. “What a beautifully aligned moment, indeed, it’s one of the last projects he worked on. It’s not just about revisiting a character that was so important to him… but also exploring a new area,” said his wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, while accepting the award on his behalf.