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| Riot Games CEO Dylan Jadeja joins Best Buy’s board of directors. |
By Jon Scarr
Best Buy has added a new voice to its board that actually understands games as more than just products on a shelf.
The company has appointed Dylan Jadeja, the current CEO of Riot Games, to its Board of Directors. It’s a move that quietly says a lot about how major retailers are thinking about gaming right now.
Jadeja has been with Riot for more than a decade, stepping into the CEO role in July 2023 after previously serving as the company’s CFO and president. Riot, founded in 2006, is best known for League of Legends, but the studio’s influence goes far beyond a single game. Riot has spent years building live-service ecosystems, global esports infrastructure, and deeply engaged communities that stick around for the long haul.
That background matters here.
Why This Isn’t Just a Boardroom Move
When a retailer like Best Buy brings in a gaming executive at this level, it’s not about optics. It’s about understanding how people actually engage with games in 2025.
Gaming today isn’t a one-time purchase. It’s hardware, peripherals, subscriptions, live updates, digital storefronts, communities, and long-term engagement. Riot has lived in that space for years, figuring out how to support people across regions, platforms, and evolving expectations.
Best Buy already sells consoles, PC parts, accessories, displays, and networking gear. Adding someone who understands how passionate gaming communities form and stick around gives the retailer insight into why people buy what they buy, not just what they buy.
Best Buy is Linking Gaming and Omnichannel Strategy
Best Buy CEO Corie Barry highlighted Jadeja’s experience in consumer brands, digital commerce, and serving global communities as a meaningful addition as Best Buy continues pushing deeper into omnichannel experiences and new revenue opportunities.
In plain terms, Best Buy wants to make it easier to buy, upgrade, and get support across stores, online, and at home. Riot’s entire world is built around keeping people engaged across multiple touchpoints, so the overlap is pretty obvious.
Gaming Experience Meets Retail Reality
Jadeja’s background isn’t limited to games alone. Before Riot, he worked within Goldman Sachs’ Consumer Retail Coverage team, which means he understands both sides of the equation: how businesses scale and how consumers behave.
That mix of financial discipline and community-driven thinking lines up well with where retail is heading. Stores are no longer just places to grab a box. They’re showrooms, support hubs, pickup points, and sometimes the only physical touchpoint you have with a bigger gaming ecosystem.
Best Buy has been investing in that direction for years, especially in gaming and PC categories. Having someone on the board who understands digital-first audiences, live service models, and long-term loyalty feels intentional, not incidental.
This is About Retention, Not Just Sales
Riot’s strength has never been “sell it once and move on.” It’s been about keeping people invested over time, whether that’s through updates, events, esports, or community culture. Retail is chasing the same thing now, just in a different way.
If Best Buy can better understand what keeps you buying into a setup over years, not weeks, that can shape everything from product selection to services to how they present gaming in-store.
What This Signals for Gaming Going Forward
This appointment reinforces something that’s been clear for a while: gaming isn’t treated as a niche anymore. It’s core consumer behaviour.
Retailers are looking to gaming for lessons in engagement, retention, and community. Publishers are looking at retail partners not just as sellers, but as part of the experience pipeline. Bringing Riot’s CEO into Best Buy’s boardroom creates a direct line between those worlds.
Jadeja also framed it as joining a brand that has spent decades connecting people with technology, both in-store and at home. That overlap between how you play and how you buy your gear is only getting tighter.
It’s not a flashy announcement, but it’s a meaningful one. And it says a lot about where gaming fits in the broader tech and retail conversation right now.
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