League Of Legends developer Riot Games confirms a new wave of layoffs

After cutting 530 jobs within the company in January, League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced that a second wave of layoffs has left a further 32 staff members out of work.

In a statement to Eurogamer, a Riot Games spokesperson confirmed that the majority of those affected are from the League of Legends team, with 27 roles cut. A further five positions have been cut in the publishing department.

According to the studio’s statement, “rioters who have been fired will have the opportunity to use our internal job board to apply for open positions within the company.”

Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill shared the news in a post on Twitter, claiming that the latest round of layoffs “isn’t about reducing headcount to save money – it’s about making sure we have the have the right expertise so that League remains great. for another 15 years and beyond”. Those affected by the cuts have all received severance packages, including a minimum of six months’ wages, their annual bonus, help finding a job and more.

Below is Merrill’s full statement and original tweet.

Hello everyone,
I want to share some important updates about @leagueoflegends PC. We’ve made changes to our teams and the way we work to ensure we can continue to improve the League experience now and in the long term. But I want to be clear: We’re not slowing down work on the game you love. We invest heavily in solving today’s challenges faster while building for the future.

As part of these changes, we have made the difficult 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 remains great for another fifteen years and beyond. While team effectiveness is more important than team size, the League team will ultimately be even larger than it is today as we develop the next phase of the League. For rioters who have been fired, we support them with a severance package that includes at least six months’ wages, an annual bonus, job-finding assistance, health coverage and more.

We have full confidence in @RiotMeddler, @RiotPabro and the League’s leadership team as they lead the way on this next phase of the League’s journey, and we look forward to sharing more about our ambitious plans in the future.

Thank you all for playing and being part of the League community.
Marc

Riot Games’ previous layoffs this year were estimated to have affected around 11% of its workforce, with those “outside of core development” most affected. The announcement also marked the end of game development under the Riot Forge label, which concluded with February’s RPG Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story.

Yesterday we heard of more staff cuts at Bandai Namco, as 2024 remains a year plagued by layoffs at studios large and small.