Riot Games is cutting 530 jobs and axing Riot Forge in major shake-up
Riot Games is laying off 530 employees in a major shake-up that will see the company refocus, abolish Riot Forge publishing and change development to Legends of Runeterra.
In an open letter to all staff published on the Riot Games website, CEO Dylan Jadeja – who stepped into the role in September 2023 – explained the layoffs, outlining the measures the company would take to support, as well as how these cuts will affect the company’s progress.
“Today I’m sharing a decision we hoped we’d never have to make at Riot. We are changing some of the bets we have made and changing the way we work within the company to create focus and move us towards a more sustainable life. future,” the letter said. “This decision means we are cutting approximately 530 roles globally, representing approximately 11% of our workforce, with the greatest impact on teams outside of core development. Unfortunately, this also means that we will say goodbye to many talented colleagues and friends around the world. all areas of Riot.”
Jadeja does say that as CEO he is ‘responsible for the changes we make and where we go in the future’. Before explaining how that works, he puts the blame on the company’s diversification, saying: “We’ve made some big bets across the company with the aim of making it better to be a player. We immediately started creating new experiences and broadening our portfolio, growing rapidly as we became a multi-game, multi-experience company – expanding our global footprint, changing our business model, bringing in new talent to match our ambitions, and ultimately double Riot’s size in just a few minutes. years.”
Jadeja claims the company no longer has a sharp enough focus and has too many projects in progress, leaving the company with “unsustainable” costs after significant investments that are “not profitable in the way we (Riot Games) expected them to be” .
Employees who are laid off will receive six months of severance pay, in addition to additional cash bonuses, including a bonus based on their 2023 performance bonus, and additional allowances for healthcare and internal Riot schemes. The open letter lists a number of other benefits that you can take advantage of read on the website.
As part of these changes, Riot Games will also close their publishing arm Riot Forge, first announced in December 2019, following the upcoming release of The Bandle Story: A League of Legends Story. In the letter, Jadeja writes, “We won’t completely close the door on single-player experiences or partner with other developers when the right project comes along, but we would like it to look very different in the future.”
The spin-off digital card game Legends of Runeterra will also change direction. That’s what Jadeja claims RuneterraThe game’s development was funded by other Riot titles, but that this is “no longer a viable option.” The team shrinks and development shifts focus to the Path of Champions PvE mode.
In the post, Jadeja said that Riot is still committed to “League PC, VALORANT, TFT, Wild Rift and to exploration in R&D.” They also mentioned that there will be a RiotNow stream in February to discuss Riot’s projects. We reached out to Riot for comment, but they did not respond by time of publication.
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