Riot Names New VALORANT and Influencer Strategy Leaders

Riot Games has appointed Joe Lee as Game Director for VALORANT and Mitchel Inkrott as Global Head of Influencer Strategy. The appointments give the game and Riot’s global creator partnerships new senior leaders.

Lee announced his new VALORANT role in October 2026. He did not provide details about his day-to-day responsibilities. A Game Director generally oversees a live game’s creative and strategic direction, including updates, new content, design decisions and changes that affect gameplay and competitive balance.

Lee has worked at Riot for more than nine years. Before taking the Game Director role, he was Senior Director of Product Management. He also held director-level positions in product management and strategic advisory, with earlier responsibilities covering research, data analysis and revenue strategy.

Inkrott began serving as Riot’s Global Head of Influencer Strategy in October 2026. He said he would spend his first weeks settling into the role. His responsibilities generally include setting Riot’s worldwide approach to working with streamers and content creators, managing creator partnerships, coordinating campaigns for game launches and events, and working with regional teams.

Inkrott joined Riot from Electronic Arts, where he served as Global Director of Creator Strategy & Relations for the publisher’s first-person shooter franchises from July to September 2026. Before that, he spent about two years as Global Director of Influencer Strategy & Relations for the Battlefield series.

Before joining Electronic Arts, Inkrott worked for about a year as Director of Influencer Strategy at marketing agency Ayzenberg. His work there included campaigns for Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. He previously spent more than four years at 2K, where he was Global Senior Influencer Marketing Manager and led the company’s NextMakers creator marketing program.

Riot uses creator partnerships and official co-streaming across its esports properties, including the League of Legends competitive scene and the VALORANT Champions Tour. The company recently appointed Bryce Blum as Global Head of Teamfight Tactics Esports.

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