Riot Games Layoffs 11% Employees across 530 Roles

Earlier today, Riot Games released a statement on X (prev. Twitter) about the future of Rioters and Riot Games. The statement discusses about the future of Riot Games and informs about their decision to lay off 11% of their workforce and remove 530 roles globally.

What does the Riot statement talk about?

The statement starts with explaining the decision to cut down the team. They emphasize the decision is not to “appease shareholders or to hit a quarterly earnings number” but is a necessity for the future of the company.

The decision is to reduce investment on areas and refocus on projects that greatly impact the player experience. The decision is to counter exponential growth in employee headcount and cut down unnecessary roles.

This decision to refocus means a cut down of 530 roles globally, 11% of the total workforce. The biggest impact has been teams outside the core development.

They will prioritize the core development teams of League of Legends, VALORANT, Teamfight Tactics, and Wildrift. Their strategy aims to focus on integrating esports, music and entertainment with the games themselves.

“Whether it’s the next hit from K/DA, the story unfolding in Arcane, the intensity of a TFT Open, the one-of-a-kind chills of a Worlds game 5, or the electric atmosphere of VAL Champs, our focus is on quality, impact, and unified experiences for players around the world.”

- Dylan & Marc, Riot Games

The statement also talks about the upcoming Arcane Season 2 set for November 2024, Project L and multiple other projects in different stages of R&D.

The biggest impact of the layoffs will be on the Legends of Runeterra and the Riot Forge teams. The LoR team will be cut down in size since it wasn’t profitable, you can read more about it here.

There also won’t be any further game development with Riot Forge, Riot’s initiative of partnering with indie devs to develop new games. The Riot Forge is officially shut down after the release of Bandle Tale.

The Reason behind the Layoffs

In the letter to the Rioters, CEO Dylan Jadeja talks in detail about the Riot Games’ updated strategy.

The Letter talks about Riot’s strategy since 2019 to launch multiple projects and the guerilla tactic to broaden their portfolio, which led to a doubling in size.

The exponential growth has grown out of control and there are “simply put, [Riot] has too many things underway.” Some of those investments made aren’t paying off.  Those failed experiments are putting the core business at risk.

The layoffs are Riot’s only option left after trying multiple changes in order to continue the most affected projects.

As mentioned earlier, Riot Games continues to prioritize the main games and they will continue to build upon them. On the other hand as mentioned earlier, LoR changed focus on sustainability and the Forge project wasn’t giving expected returns leading to the decision to shut down the project.

Riot will hold a RiotNow in February to discuss plans for the players in 2024.

What happens to the laid off Riot employees?

The affected Rioters will receive mail if their role is affected, there’d be a meeting setup with the leadership and over the upcoming weeks these open ends will be closed.

The Rioters who will lose their jobs will be offered the following;

• Severance Pay (minimum six months salary)
• Cash Bonus (Annual performance Bonus for 2023)
• Health benefits (applicable if Riot provides Healthcare)
• Play Fund, Wellness Fund etc. ($1000)
• Equity
• Computer
• Career Support
• Riot Assistance Program
• VISA support
• Riot Email access (for a few weeks/months)

These offers aid the employees to alleviate the pain of being let go.

The layoffs at Riot Games are a result of re-strategizing for the future and cutting down parts that might not see a positive return on investment in the future. Riot still plans to continue working on their most profitable core titles while ensuring sustainability.

It is still a sad outcome and we at Strafe send our regards and best wishes to Riot employees who lost their job. We wish you best of luck for the future.

Featured Image Credits: Riot Games

Read More: BLAST Premier and GG.BET sign global partnership for 2024