Riot Games is shedding workers for the second time this 12 months, the studio confirmed Tuesday. The newest spherical of cuts will have an effect on the PC improvement crew behind Riot’s massively common MOBA title League of Legends. Riot mentioned the layoffs have been a part of bigger modifications to its groups that may guarantee long-term development and enchancment of League. The affected staff will obtain a severance package deal, the studio mentioned.
Riot Games Cuts More Jobs
In its announcement, Riot Games mentioned that the choice to remove roles wasn’t taken to “save money,” and the League of Legends crew will finally develop in dimension.
“As part of these changes, we’ve made the tough decision to eliminate some roles. This isn’t about reducing headcount to save money—it’s about making sure we have the right expertise so that League continues to be great for another 15 years and beyond,” Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill mentioned in a put up on X Tuesday. “While team effectiveness is more important than team size, the League team will eventually be even larger than it is today as we develop the next phase of League,” he added.
Riot didn’t affirm the variety of staffers affected by the newest spherical of layoffs in its announcement, however a studio spokesperson confirmed to Eurogamer that 32 staff, together with 27 roles on the League of Legends crew and an extra 5 roles in publishing, can be impacted.
Laid off staff can be supplied with a severance package deal, that features a minimal of six months’ pay, annual bonus, job placement help, well being protection, and extra, Merrill mentioned in his put up.
According to the Riot co-founder, the studio was engaged on the “next phase” of League of Legends and would share extra about its “ambitious plans” for the sport sooner or later.
This is the second spherical of layoffs to hit Riot Games this 12 months. In January, the studio laid off 530 staff –– about 11 p.c of its international workforce. Teams outdoors of core improvement absorbed the biggest impression from the layoffs.
“Today, we’re a company without a sharp enough focus, and simply put, we have too many things underway. Some of the significant investments we’ve made aren’t paying off the way we expected them to. Our costs have grown to the point where they’re unsustainable,” Riot Games CEO Dylan Jadeja had mentioned in a letter to staff on the time.
