Riot Games has made layoffs across several departments
Update: The company has eliminated 46 jobs in a round of cuts
League of Legends and Valorant maker Riot Games has reportedly undergone a round of layoffs.
According to esports reporter Jacob Wolf, Riot announced staff cuts across several departments on Wednesday.
While the layoffs have yet to be officially confirmed, the former ESPN and Dot Esports journalist, who now runs Substack subscription newsletter The Jacob Wolf Report, said he’d been informed of the cuts at Riot by multiple sources.
Update
Riot Games has confirmed in a statement to VGC that 46 jobs have been eliminated in a round of cuts.
“Riot Games implemented strategic shifts within a few teams to sharpen our focus in a number of areas. With these shifts, certain roles were eliminated, impacting a total of 46 Rioters,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“This is part of our normal course of our business: We periodically make changes to our structure and our teams based on what we believe will allow us to deliver the best content and experiences for players.
“We never make these decisions lightly and will always start from a place of wanting to retain Rioters and have them focus on our highest priorities. While that’s not always possible, it’s our primary goal.”
“Size and scope are unclear at the moment, so far I’ve heard of effects across recruiting & human resources, support and esports,” he tweeted. “Will do more reporting in the morning for the newsletter.”
Wolf added: “Riot’s historically not made many reductions in force in the past, but it’s in line with a broader trend in tech, gaming and entertainment as economic hardship begins to affect many corporations.”
VGC has contacted Riot Games for comment and will update this report if we hear back from the company.
Further reading
Ubisoft and Riot team up for research project targeting toxicity in online games
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced plans to lay off approximately 10,000 employees “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities”.
The cuts will hit around 4.5% of the US technology giant’s 220,000-person workforce, including developers at Bethesda and Xbox studios 343 Industries (Halo) and The Coalition (Gears of War).
News of the layoffs at 343 Industries was met with strong criticism from several former Halo developers, including one who blamed “incompetent leadership” for the state of the game and its studio.
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