Riot Games, a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, declared its intention to cut 11 per cent of its global workforce on Monday, 22 January. The decision impacted about 530 employees, revealed a letter shared by Dylan Jadeja, CEO, Riot Games.
The company, headquartered in Los Angeles and renowned for games such as ‘League of Legends,’ attributed the decision to challenges in the digital gaming industry, coupled with high inflation causing fewer people to prefer games.
The detailed blog post featuring a letter from Jadeja, revealed the impact on teams not directly engaged in game development.
In his letter, Jadeja highlighted the company’s lack of a focused direction and the growing burden of unsustainable costs that have arisen from investments that did not yield expected returns. The layoffs are seen as a strategic move to streamline operations and allow Riot Games to refocus on its live games portfolio, which includes popular titles such as ‘League of Legends’, ‘Valorant’, ‘Teamfight Tactics’ and ‘Wild Rift.’
As part of this restructuring, Riot Games will also halt new game development under ‘Riot Forge’ and implement reductions in staff and features for ‘Legends of Runeterra’. The decision reflects the company’s commitment to concentrate resources on its core offerings.
Founded in 2006, Riot Games is a prominent American video-game developer known for its popular online multiplayer games. The company gained widespread recognition with the release of ‘League of Legends’ in 2009, a highly successful multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. Tencent acquired a majority stake in Riot Games in 2011, maintaining a stake in the US video-game developer Epic Games.
