- Riot Games is letting go of 11% of its developers.
- This wave of layoffs has affected around 530 people.
- The studio is helping those impacted through measures like severance pay and bonuses.
Layoffs are becoming a bigger concern in the gaming industry with each passing day. Following a rough 2023 for the industry, the new year was met with more layoffs, with various teams letting go of up to 2700 employees.
Less than two weeks after this report, Riot Games has added to this layoff count. The developer behind Valorant has confirmed that 11% of its existing staff is now being cut.
Why it matters: In 2023, huge developers like Naughty Dog, CD Projekt RED, and more faced layoffs. Many hoped the industry would leave this trend behind, but this has not been the case.
According to Riot Games, the studio’s latest decision was hard to make but necessary for its future survival.
The team has rapidly expanded in scope and ambition recently, leading to more employees than it can currently accommodate. Riot Games is now reducing its headcount after it grew by over two times in recent years.
Across the world, around 530 Riot Games developers will soon lose their jobs at the company. However, the studio will remain committed to supporting its biggest IPs, spanning various mediums apart from video games.
This information comes less than a full day after an analyst predicted that layoffs would continue into 2024, believing this trend would be exacerbated by more studio closures in 2024.
Last year, Embracer Group’s Volition Games and PlayStation’s PixelOpus were among the many developers shut down. Fntastic, the questionable team behind The Day Before, also met an untimely demise after this project failed to deliver on its promises.
Despite the implications of such layoffs, Riot Games is focused on its future. Major releases like Project L and Arkane season 2 lie ahead for this studio, marking massive projects that will receive all the attention they deserve.
To make the layoffs less difficult for everyone impacted, Riot Games is looking to walk the 530 developers through this process.
The CEO has ensured these former employees that they will be supported in every possible way, whether through severance pay or getting them set up in a new position through a meeting with their team leads.
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