Riot Games is going through another wave of layoffs. This has been announced by Riot Co-Founder Marc Merrill on Twitter, who announced the news through a written article on the social media platform. This statement starts by reassuring fans that League of Legends will be okay, before diving into the job cuts.
“I want to share some important updates about League of Legends PC,” Merrill wrote, “We’ve made changes to our teams and how we work to make sure we can keep improving the League experience now and for the long-term. But I want to be clear: we’re not slowing down work on the game you love. We’re investing heavily in solving today’s challenges faster while also building for the future.
“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. 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. For Rioters who are laid off, we’re supporting them with a severance package that includes a minimum of six months’ pay, annual bonus, job placement assistance, health coverage, and more.”
“We have full confidence in Riot Meddler, Riot Pabro, and the League leadership team, who are leading the charge in this next phase of League’s journey, and we look forward to sharing more about our ambitious plans in the future.”
This is the second wave of layoffs that have hit employees in recent memory. Just like last time, it looks as though staff across different teams have been hit. Multiple staff from the art team appear to have been hit, but given the personal nature of layoffs it’s likely we’ll see people gradually announce the impact of these layoffs on them over the next day or so.
This is the second layoff announcement at Riot Games in less than a year. The first time, over 500 staff lost their jobs, with Legends of Runeterra and Riot Forge teams hit especially hard. The full scope of this layoff in terms of number of staff hit is yet to be revealed.
While the statement certainly went to lengths to reassure consumers of Riot games, it’s hard not to see the regularity of these layoffs as a bad sign for the company. It’s a time of major transformation for Riot, with both the game development and esports side of the company going through significant overhaul right now. Here’s hoping more staff aren’t hit before the company finds its footing.