Riot Games, the developer of the popular “League of Legends” multiplayer battle game, is joining other tech companies that have been trimming their payrolls with a layoff of 11% of its staff.
In a lengthy statement to staff issued late Monday, CEO
Dylan Jadeja and chief product officer and co-founder of Riot Games Marc
Merrill said the move was meant to “create focus and move us toward a
sustainable future.” It said 530 jobs were being eliminated, accounting for
about 11% of the headcount at the company, which is owned by the Chinese
technology giant Tencent.
A note to customers said, “This isn’t to appease
shareholders or to hit a quarterly earnings number—it’s a necessity.”
The Los Angeles, California-based company said it had
expanded its investments across too many areas, doubling its staff in a few
years, and now was cutting back to focus on games.
“Today we’re a company without a sharp enough focus, and
simply put, we have too many things underway. Some of the investments we’ve
made aren’t paying off the way we expected them to,” the statement said.
“To all the Rioters who are being laid off, we are deeply
sorry that it has come to this,” it said.
Riot Games said it will pay staff who are laid off six
months of salary at a minimum, cash bonuses and other benefits.
It said it would offer access to job placement services,
counseling and visa support for staff who were working with visas. Those laid
off can also request use of a laptop if needed, the company said.
Job cuts have been taking a toll on workers across various
industries — including retail, tech, media and hospitality — over the last few
years. In recent months, layoffs have been announced at Google, Amazon, Hasbro,
LinkedIn and more.
Many have been in the tech sector, which hired heavily
during the pandemic, when people whiled away time stuck at home playing games
online.
Riot Games sponsors the League of Legends World Championship
and the company said it remained committed to esports and entertainment in
support of its games.
The company said it would make changes to its Legends of Runeterra to “move it to sustainability” and reduce the staff working on that team, shifting its focus to its “Path of Champions.” “Riot Forge” will be discontinued after the upcoming release of “Bandle Tale,” it said.
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