League of Legends studio Riot Video games has laid off 46 workers, saying the cuts have been made as “strategic shifts inside a couple of groups to sharpen our focus in various areas.”
“With these shifts, sure roles have been eradicated, impacting a complete of 46 Rioters,” Riot stated in an announcement despatched to PC Gamer. “That is a part of our regular course of our enterprise: We periodically make modifications to our construction and our groups based mostly on what we consider will permit us to ship the most effective content material and experiences for gamers.
“We by no means make these choices frivolously and can at all times begin from a spot of eager to retain Rioters and have them give attention to our highest priorities. Whereas that’s not at all times doable, it’s our main aim.”
The layoffs, first reported by the Jacob Wolf Report (opens in new tab), characterize simply 1% of Riot’s total workforce, which at present stands at over 4,500 workers (opens in new tab) in additional than 20 places of work worldwide. Riot stated that many of the layoffs have been made in its publishing division, with a small quantity coming from its recruiting and esports divisions.
Riot additionally famous that it’s nonetheless hiring for greater than 150 positions at numerous studios, which could appear a bit odd provided that it is concurrently letting individuals go. The studio stated that whereas it usually tries to retain and relocate workers, it wasn’t doable on this case due to altering “strategic priorities,” which go away different, unrelated positions nonetheless to be crammed.
The cuts at Riot are the newest spherical of layoffs to hit the gaming and tech industries: Microsoft introduced yesterday that it was letting greater than 10,000 workers (opens in new tab) go, a few of whom would come from recreation studios together with 343 Industries and Bethesda, and CD Projekt (opens in new tab), Coinbase (opens in new tab), Unity (opens in new tab), and Fb guardian Meta (opens in new tab) have additionally made vital cuts in latest months. French commerce union Solidaires Informatique additionally lately referred to as for a strike at Ubisoft Paris (opens in new tab), accusing Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot of planning “employees reductions, discreet studio closures, wage cuts, [and] disguised layoffs.”
