Riot Games Shuts Down Effort to Build Rival Streamer to Twitch

Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Riot Games unit canceled plans to introduce a streaming platform that would have competed with Amazon Inc.’s Twitch, Bloomberg has learned.

Riot’s Esports Network, nicknamed REN, was a web and mobile app where fans could watch and engage with Riot’s competitive games and professional players. The Los Angeles-based League of Legends developer made the move as part of an overall restructuring where it cut 11% of staff, or 530 employees.

“We were testing some watch platform ideas but opted to cancel our initiative REN last week,” John Needham, president of esports at Riot Games, said in an emailed statement. Needham had previously ...