League Of Legends Company Riot Games Lays Off 530 Employees

Riot Games, the publisher-developer company behind League of Legends, has announced that it is laying off 530 employees. Plus, it's ending new game development under its Riot Forge arm, which produced third-party-developed games with the «A League of Legends Story» tag, like Ruined King, The Mageseeker, Song of Nunu, and the upcoming Bandle Tale, which will be the last in this line of releases. 

As for why, Riot CEO Dylan Jadeja and co-founder and chief product officer Marc Merrill sight the need to «move us toward a more sustainable future» in the announcement post released on January 22. 

«Minutes ago, we shared with Rioters that we are focusing on fewer, high-impact projects to move us toward a more sustainable future,» it reads. «Now, we want to tell you what these changes mean for our games, everything around them (esports, Arcane, music, etc.), and what to expect going forward. 

»For most of our history, we've managed to avoid days like this, but this decision is critical for the future of Riot. This isn't to appease shareholders or to hit a quarterly earnings number—it's a necessity. Over the past few years, as Riot more than doubled in headcount, we spread our efforts across more and more projects without sharp enough razors to decide what players needed most. The adjustments we're making aim to focus us on the areas that have the greatest impact on your experience while reducing investment on things that don't. 

«This means we're eliminating about 530 roles globally, which represents around 11% of Rioters, with the biggest impact to teams outside of core development. We recognize that many of you don't just care about the games you play, but also about the people who make them. These are not just organizational changes; they affect individuals and families, and we do our best to approach these decisions with respect and sensitivity. If you'd like to read the email we sent to Rioters, we've shared it here.»

In that email, Riot says it's a company without a