Riot Games, the developer behind the likes of League of Legends, Valorant, and Teamfight Tactics, has announced that it’s “eliminating about 530 roles globally”, with the most tangible effects seemingly hitting the teams working on Legends of Runeterra and the Riot Forge initiative that’s behind the likes of Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story.
As revealed in a blog post, the layoffs will affect “around 11%” of the Riot’s workforce, with the developer saying that “the biggest impact [is] to teams outside of core development”. “This decision is critical for the future of Riot,” chief product officer and co-founder Marc Merrill and CEO Dylan Jadeja said in the post, “This isn’t to appease shareholders or to hit a quarterly earnings number—it’s a necessity.”
As a result of the move, Riot will increase its focus on its “core live games” - League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift - emphasising that its plans for these titles are “more ambitious than ever”. “Expect events, modes, and long-term roadmaps that lead to vibrant (hopefully multi-decade) futures for these games” wrote Merrill and Jadeja.