Tom Cadwell is the Chief Design Officer & Studio Head of Research Design Studio (RDS), where he oversees the incubation, prototyping, and pre-production of new games while also shaping Riot’s approach to game direction across existing titles. Grounded in the belief that game design works best when you combine deep player understanding with principled, structured thinking, Tom helps create an environment where gamemakers can take smart risks, share knowledge, and build genre-defining experiences for players.
Tom has been with Riot since 2009, when he helped build the game design team and led League of Legends’ design from pre-alpha through the years following launch. Since then, he has focused primarily on new games and R&D leadership across Riot.
Before Riot, Tom studied computer science at MIT. He later worked as a game designer on Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and the original World of Warcraft, and earned an MBA from Kellogg / Northwestern.
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