Following the recent trend of layoffs and closures, League of Legends developer Riot is the latest studio to announce job cuts. Yesterday evening, Riot Games layoffs hit the company and affected 530 roles, which amounts to roughly 11% of the company.
The layoffs were announced in a news post on Riot Games’ official website. The post read as follows:
Players,
Minutes ago, we shared with Rioters that we are refocusing on fewer, high-impact projects to move us toward a more sustainable future. Now, we want to tell you what these changes mean for our games, everything around them (esports, Arcane, music, etc.), and what to expect going forward.
For most of our history, we’ve managed to avoid days like this, but this decision is critical for the future of Riot. This isn’t to appease shareholders or to hit a quarterly earnings number—it’s a necessity. Over the past few years, as Riot more than doubled in headcount, we spread our efforts across more and more projects without sharp enough razors to decide what players needed most. The adjustments we’re making aim to focus us on the areas that have the greatest impact on your experience while reducing investment on things that don’t.
This means we’re eliminating about 530 roles globally, which represents around 11% of Rioters, with the biggest impact to teams outside of core development. We recognize that many of you don’t just care about the games you play, but also about the people who make them. These are not just organizational changes; they affect individuals and families, and we do our best to approach these decisions with respect and sensitivity. If you’d like to read the email we sent to Rioters, we’ve shared it here.
In a post directly addressed to the Riot employees themselves, CEO Dylan Jadeja cites a lack of focus and some poorly-returned investments as reasons for the cuts. According to him, the company’s costs are “unsustainable,” leaving them no room for experimentation. Layoffs are a sort of “last resort” to fix the company’s trajectory, a common message we’ve seen across many recent developer downsizings.
Riot has promised an extensive set of severance benefits for those affected, including a minimum 6 months of severance pay, a cash bonus, continued health benefits, and equity for their existing investments in Riot Games. The company is also giving ex-employees laptops and 6 months of career support. While it’s tragic to see this many people lose their jobs, Riot does seem to be trying to do it right.
Riot is just the latest in a long line of recent layoffs. This month alone, we’ve seen layoffs at social platforms like Discord, streaming sites like Twitch, and even game engine companies such as Unity. The video game job cuts epidemic has spread beyond simply developers, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing anytime soon.
We’ll be sure to keep readers updated as we hear more about those affected.
Source: Riot Games
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