Riot Games has announced plans to lay off 530 of their employees, or about 11 % of their workforce.
In a public blog post on their website, Riot gave this explanation:
“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.”
So, the unfortunate truth is, Riot made the same mistake many other studios and game publishers did, of hiring too many people, for projects that have now proven to be unsustainable.
Riot then laid out their plans for each project and division. League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift, are all safe, with long-term roadmaps well established and still on track for the months ahead.
Riot’s upcoming fighting game, Project L, and the second season of TV show Arcane are both still on track as well, with the latter scheduled for a November 2024 release. Riot also still has other projects in development.
What are winding down are Riot’s small video game publishing label, Riot Forge, and Legends of Runeterra, which is not being cancelled, but scaled down. Riot Forge’s last published game will be Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story.
Riot describes Riot Forge as “an experiment to see what would happen when Rioters partnered with their favorite indie devs and let them loose on Runeterra.”
On the other hand, Riot revealed that Legends of Runeterra “has faced financial challenges since launch, costing significantly more to develop and support than it generates.” These changes are to take the title towards sustainability.
Riot also made their statement to employees public, and revealed a generous severance package for their outgoing employees. This includes six months severance, healthcare, their equity, career placement and visa support. This is the same Riot Games that faced turbulent harassment issues in the past, so it is noteworthy to point this out as well.
GameRanx wishes the outgoing employees of Riot Games the best, and hope that they can find employment back in the video game industry.
