Riot Games, the creators behind League of Legends and Valorant, announced on Monday that they are laying off 11% of their staff, approximately 530 jobs. This move aligns with other major game developers and tech companies that are scaling back certain divisions as part of belt-tightening plans due to rising costs.
“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,” Riot Games CEO Dylan Jadeja wrote in a blog post. “The adjustments we’re making aim to focus us on the areas that have the greatest impact on your experience while reducing investment in things that don’t.”
Riot said teams outside of core development will see the largest impact from layoffs. The company says it will continue to prioritize its core live games like the popular League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift, as well as esports and events tied to those titles. However, Riot will stop new game development under Riot Forge and drop some features in Legends of Runeterra, which it said has not performed as well as hoped.
“We’re proud of what we’ve done together to bring these stories to life, but it’s time to refocus our efforts on the ambitious projects underway internally at Riot,” Jadeja said.
Riot Games, owned by the Chinese tech company Tencent, is known for popular franchises with a focus on esports. In recent years, the gaming giant has moved beyond making games by expanding into the entertainment space through its Arcane TV show on Netflix. Riot is headquartered in Los Angeles and has over 4,500 employees.
The job cuts at Riot Games come days after big tech heavyweights, including Google and Amazon, have confirmed layoffs across multiple divisions. Since last year, several big developers like TikTok owner ByteDance downsized their gaming divisions, while Pokemon Go creator Niantic, Fortnite maker Epic Games, and Assassin’s Creed developer Ubisoft announced job cuts. Analysts expect more brutal job cuts in the coming months. An estimated 7,500 layoffs in the tech sector have been eliminated since the start of the year.
Here’s the full post from Marc Merrill and Dylan Jadeja:
Players,
Minutes ago, we shared with Rioters that we are refocusing on fewer, high-impact projects to move us toward a more sustainable future. 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 in things that don’t.
This means we’re eliminating about 530 roles globally, which represents around 11% of Rioters, with the biggest impact on 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.
