League of Legends and Valorant maker Riot Games has reportedly undergone a round of layoffs.
According to esports reporterJacob Wolf, Riot announced staff cuts across several departments on Wednesday.
Update19th Jan 2023 / 4:20 pm
Riot Gameshas 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.”
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
On Wednesday,Microsoftannounced plans tolay 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 Xboxstudios343 Industries(Halo) andThe Coalition(Gears of War).
News of the layoffs at 343 Industries wasmet with strong criticism from several former Halo developers, including one who blamed “incompetent leadership” for the state of the game and its studio.
