Riot Games is laying off 530 employees in a major restructuring that will see the company refocus, eliminating its Riot Forge publishing arm and shifting development to Legends of Runeterra.
In an open letter to all staff posted on Riot Games' website, CEO Dylan Jadeja, who took over in September 2023, explained the layoffs, outlined steps the company would take to support laid-off employees and also how these cuts will affect the company in the future.
“Today, I'm sharing a decision we hoped we'd never have to make at Riot. We're changing some of the bets we've made and changing the way we work across the company to create a focus and move toward a more sustainable future.” , says the letter. “This decision means we are cutting around 530 positions globally, representing around 11% of our workforce, with the biggest impact on teams outside of core development. This also means, sadly, that we will say goodbye to many talented colleagues and friends in all areas of Riot.”
Jadeja says that as CEO, he is “responsible for the changes we are making and where we are heading in the future.” Before explaining how it works, he blames the companies' diversification, saying: “We've made a number of big bets across the company with the goal of improving our player quality. We dove headlong into creating new experiences and expanding our portfolio.” and we grew rapidly 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 short time. a few years. years.”
Jadeja claims the company no longer has a clear enough focus and has too many projects underway, leaving the company with “unsustainable” costs after major investments that “did not pay off in the way they expected.” [Riot Games] I hoped they would.”
Laid-off employees will receive six months of severance pay, plus additional cash bonuses, including one based on their 2023 performance bonus, and additional stipends related to healthcare and internal Riot schemes. There are some other benefits listed in the open letter, which you can read on the website.
As part of these changes, Riot Games will also close its Riot Forge publishing division, first announced in December 2019, after the upcoming release of Bandle's Tale: A League of Legends Story. In the letter, Jadeja writes: “We won't completely close the door on single-player experiences or work with other developers if the right project comes along, but we would like it to look quite different in the future.”
The spin-off digital card game Legends of Runeterra It will also change direction. Jadeja states that RuneterraRiot's development was being funded by other Riot titles, but that this “is no longer a viable option.” The team will be reduced in size and development will focus on the Path of Champions PvE mode.
In the post, Jadeja said Riot was still committed to “League PC, VALORANT, TFT, Wild Rift and exploring R&D.” They also mentioned that there will be a RiotNow stream to talk about Riot's projects in February. We reached out to Riot for comment, but they did not respond at the time of publication.
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