Back in 2021, I remember watching the Arcane launch window turn into a full-blown crossover carnival. Riot Games wasn’t just promoting a Netflix show; it was stuffing League of Legends characters and Arcane branding into anything with a pulse. PUBG? Sure. Epic Games? Absolutely. Arcane-themed items, events, and even LoL characters showing up in other games? Yep. As a player, it felt less like a TV premiere and more like a marketing meteor shower. And in 2026, looking back, that moment still feels like a strange little time capsule.
The part I still can’t fully explain is Fenty. Rihanna’s beauty brand teamed up with Riot to do… something. I’m not being cute here. The original announcement was light on details in a way that made me reread it twice. Riot said Fenty would ‘curate beauty looks’ across its products, including content aiming to highlight the multifaceted and diverse beauty landscape that celebrates beauty in all of its forms. Both companies said they would push the boundaries of collaboration throughout the partnership, both in and out of game. That sounds ambitious, right? But what does it actually mean for me, a person who mostly wants to know whether there’s a skin, an event, or a weird little in-game item to chase?
The partnership kicked off with a VIP beauty experience and gifting at Riot’s campus in Los Angeles during the red carpet event for Arcane’s debut. Fenty released a few brief videos on Twitter showing what that was like. I watched those clips and thought: okay, this looks cool, but what is it? Were they consulting on costume and design choices for characters in various Riot games? Was Riot going to advertise Fenty products somehow? Maybe both? At the time, that was a complete guess, and until either company said more, players were completely in the dark. In 2026, I still file this under ‘vibes-based partnership.’ 💄
To be fair, I don’t need every crossover to be a battle pass. Sometimes a brand partnership is just a red-carpet moment, some gift bags, and a few stylish videos. But the Fenty announcement was memorable precisely because it was so vague. It had the energy of a collaboration announcement that forgot to include the collaboration. The phrase ‘curate beauty looks’ was doing a lot of heavy lifting. As a player, I wanted a clear answer: what do I get, what do I do, and why should I care?
The Epic Games side was much easier to understand. Riot brought League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, and Valorant to the Epic Games Store. That alone was a big deal for discoverability. But the fun part was Jinx arriving in Fortnite as part of the month-long RiotX Arcane event. There was also a Jinx spray, a Jinx backpack, and several other Arcane-themed items in the Fortnite shop. That I understood immediately. You log in, you see Jinx, you maybe buy a spray, and you move on with your day. It was cross-promotion with a clear player-facing payoff. 🎮
Here’s how I’d sum up the difference between the two partnerships:
| Partner | What I remember | My honest take |
|---|---|---|
| PUBG, Epic Games, and others | Arcane-themed items, events, and LoL characters appearing in other games | Fun, loud, and absolutely everywhere |
| Epic Games Store | LoL, TFT, Legends of Runeterra, and Valorant available on the store | A clear win for players and Riot |
| Fortnite | Jinx skin, spray, backpack, and other Arcane items during RiotX Arcane | Easy to understand, easy to engage with |
| Fenty | VIP beauty experience, gifting, curated beauty looks, and diverse beauty content | Stylish, ambitious, and still a bit mysterious 🤔 |
That table kind of tells the whole story for me. The Epic and Fortnite stuff had a clear ‘do this, get that’ loop. The Fenty stuff had a clear vibe but not a clear player action. And look, I’m not saying every crossover needs a quest log. But when a game company and a beauty brand announce a partnership, my gamer brain immediately asks: is this a cosmetic? An event? A consultation? A gift bag? A Twitter video? The answer, at least at the time, was: yes? Maybe? We’ll see?
In 2026, crossovers are everywhere. You can’t throw a controller without hitting a brand collab, a limited-time mode, or a skin bundle. But Arcane’s launch window still stands out to me because Riot went so hard. It treated a Netflix animated series like a platform. It put Jinx in Fortnite. It put Arcane items in PUBG. It put League, TFT, Runeterra, and Valorant on the Epic Games Store. And then it also did… whatever the Fenty thing was. That mix of crystal-clear promotion and delightful confusion is why I still remember it.
The lesson I take away is simple: clarity matters. If you’re going to cross worlds, give players something to do. Jinx in Fortnite? Clear. Beauty looks? Less clear. I don’t need every collaboration to be a skin, but I do want to know what I’m supposed to engage with. Still, I appreciate the ambition. Arcane felt like an event, not just a show. And as a player, I’ll always remember the weekend when Jinx was in Fortnite and Rihanna’s beauty brand was somehow in the chat. ✅
According to coverage from CNET - Gaming, the Arcane-era crossover wave makes the most sense when viewed as part of a broader entertainment-tech strategy, where publishers use storefront launches, character cameos, and branded events to turn a show premiere into a wider ecosystem moment that reaches players far beyond a single game.