UPDATE: This article has been updated to clarify that the RiotNow event is an internal event that will not be available to the public.
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Layoffs became an unfortunate trend in video games last year and it sadly doesn’t look like that trend is stopping in 2024. Today, League of Legends developer Riot Games announced that it is laying off more than 500 members of its staff around the world. that represents 11% of its total workforce, making it a substantial cut that will cause all kinds of reshuffling in the company. It also means that Riot Forge, the publishing arm of the company that’s been working with external studios on smaller-scale games using Riot’s IP will be sunsetted after the release of Bandle Tale.
In a statement shared publicly with the Riot Games community, CEO Dylan Jadeja addressed the layoffs and explained what the path forward is going to look like for the studio’s many properties. For what it’s worth, Jadeja included a full breakdown of the severance package employees will receive, demonstrating a level of transparency that is sometimes not shown in situations like this.
Dylan Jadeja’s Statements to Employees
Jadeja explained in detail how Riot Games got into this position, saying that since 2019, they “[doubled] the size of Riot in just a few years.” Partially because of this, the company has “too many things under way.” To that end, the studio leaders have decided that they need to scale things back because the current direction was “unsustainable.” Jadeja said, “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.”
The CEO said the move isn’t being done “to appease shareholders or hit some quarterly earnings number.” Instead, Riot believes that it’s a “necessity” to “maintain a long-term focus for players.” Again, to their credit, the team is offering a substantial severance package as part of these layoffs. Jadeja says they want “to do our very best to make sure we’re treating Rioters with respect and grace.” This includes six months of salary, health benefits, and several other options that should hopefully help employees make the transition.
The Future of Riot Games’ Portfolio
Of course, Jadeja needed to discuss what all this means for Riot Games’ significant portfolio. For starters, Riot is still heavily committed to League of Legends, Valorant, TFT, or Wild Rift. Fans may see smaller changes for those games as Riot re-adjusts, but none of them are slowing down development.
However, the team is going to move Legends of Runeterra “towards sustainability.” The game has not performed as well as expected, so Riot is shrinking the team to focus on the Path of Champions PvE mode. As mentioned above, Riot Forge is going to be sunsetted after the release of Bandle Tale. Jadeja says that doesn’t mean players won’t get future single-player content, but Riot’s approach to how it does that is getting a major change.
Riot has also confirmed that it will be hosting an internal RiotNow event for employees which will not be made available to the public, but will help the team set expectations going forward. Riot will be hosting a Riot Worldwide Town Hall this Thursday “to give more context into this moment as well as portfolio changes [they’ve] made.”
