Riot Games League of Legends Layoffs

Riot Games League of Legends Layoffs

Key Takeaways

  • Riot Games announces further layoffs in 2024, following previous rounds this year and in 2023.
  • Co-founder Marc Merill emphasizes layoffs are not about cost-saving, but retaining expertise for League of Legends.
  • Employees affected by layoffs will receive compensation, health insurance, and support in finding new roles.

As a long-time enthusiast of Riot Games and League of Legends, it’s disheartening to see yet another wave of layoffs hitting the company. Having followed their journey since the early days, I can’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia and worry for the future. It seems that 2024 has been more challenging for Riot than the players have been for League of Legends, which is quite ironic given the community’s reputation.


2024 saw a more challenging time for the League of Legends developers compared to its player base, who are sometimes criticized for their behavior in the community.

Riot has announced yet another round of layoffs, after letting 530 employees go earlier this year.

Co-founder Marc Merill shared a social media post commenting on the situation.

According to Merill, this action isn’t aimed at trimming staff numbers to cut costs. In fact, it stands in sharp opposition to the statement made in January, which indicated that the firm’s expenses had escalated to an extent that they were no longer sustainable.

It hasn’t been revealed how many workers have been let go at Merrill, as of now. Since their announcement doesn’t touch on Valorant, it seems reasonable to conclude that the circumstances only pertain directly to the League of Legends team.

The announcement emphasizes the intent is to maintain the kind of expertise that Riot Games needs to keep League of Legends “great for another 15 years and beyond.”

We’re investing heavily in solving today’s challenges faster while also building for the future.

-Marc Merill, Riot Games Co-Founder

Affected employees will get a minimum of six months’ salary, their annual bonus for 2024, health insurance coverage, and help with securing employment opportunities elsewhere.

Layoffs Continue As Gaming Industry Grows

Riot Games League of Legends Layoffs

‘Layoffs’ have been an unfortunately common keyword in gaming and tech news today.

Back in January 2023, Riot conducted its third series of layoffs over a span of two years, affecting both their teams developing Valorant and League of Legends games.

As development costs continue to rise, smaller gaming studios find themselves in a precarious position; if a game fails, it often spells doom for the company itself.

Instead, at AAA Studios, it’s mostly the employees who face job cuts due to factors like hasty decisions from shareholders and mismanaged internal resources.

2021 has been quite challenging for Ubisoft specifically, as they’ve faced a series of management issues and staff reductions that ultimately caused the delay of their planned 2024 release for ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’.

The waves of layoffs paint an awkward contrast with the numbers posted by the gaming industry, which has recently surpassed music and film combined.

Based on the past two rounds of downsizing, it seems that League of Legends may be resilient enough to ride out the current turbulence in the industry, though another wave could potentially arise in the future.

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2024-10-16 01:40