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Remember physical media? The team behind Arcane certainly does, as the Netflix series is getting the rare Blu-ray treatment

Taking this one as a win for preservation.

A poster for Arcane, showing Jinx surrounded by other characters superimposed over various bits of a broken mirror.
Image credit: Riot/ Netflix

Netflix's animated League of Legends adaptation Arcane is getting a physical release, and it's all thanks to GKIDS.

One of the most frustrating aspects of Netflix is that most of what it produces never releases on DVD or Blu-ray. It's obviously because the streaming service wants as many people to subscribe as possible, but it does make preserving certain series a bit of a ball ache. I do have some good news when it comes to physical media of Netflix shows, though, as GKIDS announced yesterday that it had acquired the global home entertainment rights to Arcane season 1. In a press release (via Polygon), GKIDS didn't offer too many details, but it did say it plans to release "a full product array later this year, ranging from digital to premium editions, including a 4K version exclusive to the home entertainment release."

This is obviously great news for fans of the first season, as it means they can easily play it on loop without having to worry about having a stable internet condition, or, you know, paying for Netflix every month. In a statement, GKIDS founder and CEO Eric Beckman also said at the Annecy International Animation Festival "We are MONSTER fans of [Arcane]. Our team is having a blast collaborating with the creatives at Riot and Fortiche to put together an amazing package for the fans. This project was dreamt up on the lawn by the lake at Annecy, so we are extra happy to be able to announce this collaboration at the festival and true home of animation."

GKIDS have been making lots of moves when it comes to physical distribution recently. For one, there's the upcoming Science Saru series Dan Da Dan, which GKIDS will be doing a cinema and home release of, and it also acquired the North American rights to the very weird Angel's Egg, a lesser known film from the director of Ghost in the Shell and Yoshitaka Amano, famed Final Fantasy artist.

Season 2 of Arcane is on the way later this year too, so fans of the series certainly have lots to look forward to.

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