Riot Games, creators of Valorant and League of Legends, lay off hundreds of employees

The wave of layoffs in the video game industry continues. After 2023, when a large number of studios and distributors suffered from staff cuts, the trend continues into 2024. This time it’s time Riot Gamescreators valiant And League of Legendswhich announced the departure of hundreds of employees.

The company, a subsidiary of Chinese giant Tencent, reported an 11% reduction in its workforce worldwide. This translates to dismissal of 530 workers” Riot Games explained in a statement signed by Dylan Jadeja, its CEO.

According to the head, the studio has lost focus and this is largely due to the fact that they have too many projects underway. Jadeja explained that the number of Riot Games employees doubled from 2019 to present and that some bets made in recent years have not produced the desired results.

The firm confirmed that the layoffs will have a major impact outside of its core video game development business. This means that equipment intended for valiant, League of Legends, League of Legends: Wild Rift And Team battle tactics They will continue to operate almost as usual.

However, this will not be the case Legends of Runeterra. The digital business card title will result in fewer developers working on the project. Although the game itself will be modified to focus on a player versus environment (PvE) mode called Path of Champions. The Riot Games leader indicated that the decision indicated that this proposal becomes economically sustainablebecause although it is well received, the studio can no longer subsidize it.

Riot Games joins wave of layoffs in video game industry

Another big change that the creators valiant And League of Legends be Riot Forge closing, your distributor of third-party games. This will happen after release Bandle Tale: History of League of Legends, the date of which has been confirmed for February 21 next year. The game, created by Lazy Bear Games for PC and Nintendo Switch, will be the latest offering to hit the market with such publisher.

Dylan Jadeja said that they are open to the possibility of him working with other studios again in the future, but if it does happen, it will be in a different form. Moreover, he argued that They tried to avoid layoffs as best they could.but layoffs and other internal changes were not enough to ensure the company’s economic viability.

“Some of the significant investments we have made are not paying off. Our costs have increased to the point where they are unsustainable, leaving us no room for experimentation or failure, which is vital for a creative company like ours. the core of our business is at risk. […]

We don’t do that [los despidos] to appease shareholders or achieve some quarterly profit target; We make this decision because it is necessary. “This is what we have to do to maintain a long-term focus on the players.”

Dylan Jadeja, CEO of Riot Games.

The industry is expecting a very difficult year in 2024.

New layoffs from Riot Games follow the trend in the video game industry. Many studios have expanded their teams at a rapid pace during the pandemic as demand for home entertainment has reached stratospheric levels. However, the normalization of global activity has meant that many companies have had to make cuts. In this case, it’s not even about popularity. valiant or Laughing out loud this was enough to avoid a sad outcome.

In 2023, we’ve seen layoffs at Epic Games, Blizzard, Electronic Arts, CD Projekt RED, Unity, and even Bethesda and Xbox. Of course, these were just some of the more notable cases. Over the past year, more than 10,000 workers have lost their jobs, and in the current calendar, approximately 3,000 have already been affected. And the prospects for the coming months are not very good.

Regardless of what’s going on with Riot Games right now, it was revealed yesterday that not only will there be more layoffs in 2024, but many video game studios will also close. According to industry leaders, this is due to the fact that Their business models are unprofitable and they will become impossible to support. If this does happen, it is also expected to impact related areas such as marketing and content distribution.