Riot Games has appointed two new leaders to key positions, with Joe Lee taking on the role of Game Director for VALORANT and Mitchel Inkrott becoming Global Head of Influencer Strategy.
Joe Lee announced on LinkedIn that he is now the Game Director for VALORANT. Lee did not detail his specific day-to-day responsibilities in the post. A Game Director typically holds overall creative and strategic responsibility for a live game, setting the direction for updates, new content, and major design decisions, and signing off on changes that affect how the game plays and how it’s balanced for competitive use.
Lee has worked at Riot for more than nine years, holding several roles in product management, strategy, research and revenue management. Before becoming Game Director, Lee served as Senior Director of Product Management and previously held director-level positions involving product management and strategic advisory. His earlier work included leading teams responsible for research, data analysis and revenue strategy.
Mitchel Inkrott, on the other hand, announced on LinkedIn that he has taken on the role of Global Head of Influencer Strategy at Riot Games, starting in October 2026. He said he would spend his first few weeks settling into the role.
Inkrott also did not lay out specific responsibilities in his announcement. A Global Head of Influencer Strategy at a game publisher typically oversees how the company works with content creators and streamers worldwide, including identifying and managing creator partnerships, setting the overall strategy for creator campaigns tied to game launches or events, and coordinating with regional teams to make sure influencer activity is consistent across different markets. The role often also involves setting budgets and measuring the impact of creator-driven marketing campaigns.
His impact will be particularly interesting to follow in Riot’s case, given the company’s extensive reliance on official co-streaming partnerships and creator integration across flagship esports circuits like the League of Legends competitive scene and the VALORANT Champions Tour.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Inkrott joins Riot from Electronic Arts (EA), where he most recently served as Global Director of Creator Strategy & Relations for EA’s FPS franchises from July to September 2026, after roughly two years as Global Director of Influencer Strategy & Relations for Battlefield games. Before EA, he spent about a year as Director of Influencer Strategy at marketing agency Ayzenberg, where he worked on campaigns including one for Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. He also spent more than four years at 2K, including as Global Senior Influencer Marketing Manager, where he led the company’s NextMakers creator marketing program.
These aren’t the only leadership roles Riot has filled lately. A few days ago, the company also appointed Bryce Blum as its new Global Head of Teamfight Tactics (TFT) Esports.
