League of Legends developer Riot Games has introduced it is laying off 530 employees – roughly 11 % of its whole world workforce – saying it is making the choice because it refocuses on “fewer, high-impact projects to move us toward a more sustainable future.”
In a statement addressing players on its web site, Riot – which laid off 46 members of workers in January final yr – wrote, “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.”
CEO Dylan Jadeja went into extra particular particulars concerning the enterprise circumstances resulting in at the moment’s layoffs in an email to Riot employees, additionally shared on the studio’s web site. “Since 2019,” he wrote, “we’ve made a number of big bets across the company with the goal of making it better to be a player. We jumped headfirst into creating new experiences and broadening our portfolio, and grew quickly as we became a multi-game, multi-experience company — expanding our global footprint, changing our operating model, bringing in new talent to match our ambitions, and ultimately doubling the size of Riot in just a few years.”
“Today, we’re a company without a sharp enough focus,” he continued, “and easily put, now we have too many issues underway. Some of the numerous investments we have made aren’t paying off the way in which we anticipated them to. Our prices have grown to the purpose the place they’re unsustainable, and we have left ourselves with no room for experimentation or failure – which is important to a inventive firm like ours. All of this places the core of our enterprise in danger.
“Over the previous a number of months, we have tried to change our trajectory in many various methods. We requested leaders to make tradeoffs within the issues their groups are engaged on. We rolled out hiring slowdowns, and in some instances hiring freezes. We put an emphasis on controlling prices whereas strengthening our income development. All of which has for sure been powerful for our groups.
“But as I’ve dug in with leaders across Riot, it’s become clear to all of us that these changes aren’t enough. We have to do more to focus our business and center our efforts on the things that drive the most player value – the things that are truly worth players’ time. Unfortunately, this involves making changes in the area where we invest the most — our headcount.”
Riot says these “changes” will imply round 530 employees lose their jobs globally, “with the biggest impact [being] to teams outside of core development.” The firm can also be shutting down RiotForge – the initiative that has seen it work with smaller indie studios to develop a quantity of well-recieved titles based mostly on its IP, together with the Ruined King, Song of Nunu, and the upcoming Bandle Tale – and decreasing the scale of its Legends of Runeterra group.
The latter title, in line with Jadeja, “hasn’t performed as well as we need it to, despite our best efforts”. He added it is now not a “viable option” to subsidise the price of growth via Riot’s different video games, so growth will refocus on Runterra’s Path of Champions PvE sport mode – stated to be the mode “where players have been spending the most time”. The studio additionally says it is “prioritising” the League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift groups – “so they can focus on… content, features, and updates” – and shall be adopting methods that “more tightly integrate esports, music, and entertainment with our games.”
Riot employees affected by at the moment’s layoffs will obtain a minimal of six months’ severance pay, a money bonus equal to 100 % of particular person 2023 Annual Performance Bonuses, well being advantages equal to the size of severance pay, $1000 USD to cowl bills that may usually fall inside Riot’s Play Fund and Wellness Fund, fairness, a laptop computer to assist discover work if one is not accessible at dwelling, profession help, three months’ entry to the Rioter Assistance Program, visa help, and continued use of their Riot electronic mail tackle for a “limited time”.
Today’s job cuts at Riot comply with a 2023 blighted by intensive layoffs throughout the video games business, with the entire quantity of staff affected believed to be round 9,500. Layoffs have sadly continued into 2024; Unity began the yr by slicing 1,800 jobs, whereas the likes of Behaviour Interactive, Twitch, Discord, and the Gearbox-owned studio Lost Boys Interactive have all introduced layoffs since then.
