Behind Riot's New Hit: A Chinese Physical Enterprise Breaks into a Once Japan-U.S.-Monopolized Business

Summary

Riot Games' new trading card game, "Rune Battle: League of Legends Trading Card Game," launched in mainland China on August 1, 2025, followed by an English release. Within its first quarter, it jumped to No. 5 by gross merchandise value (GMV) on TCGplayer, the leading U.S. card trading platform, trailing only Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon TCG, One Piece Card Game, and Yu-Gi-Oh!. This milestone breaks the long-standing dominance of Japanese and American companies in the physical TCG market. More notably, the production and physical manufacturing of the game are handled by a Chinese entity enterprise, marking China's deep involvement in the global top-tier TCG supply chain. For years, the manufacturing process and quality control of collectible card games were monopolized by Japanese and American firms. The entry of a Chinese manufacturer demonstrates its upgraded production capabilities and promises more efficient and stable mass supply for global players. For players, this means competitive card quality, unboxing experience, and future expansion availability. For the industry, the participation of Chinese manufacturing could lower production costs, encourage more IPs to enter the card game space, and potentially reshape the global division of labor in the card game industry. The game's success also proves that original TCGs based on popular gaming IPs still have huge market…