Riot Games Lays Off League of Legends Developers in Second Round of Job Cuts
DA Gadgets 
Riot
Games
is
laying
off
staff
for
the
second
time
this
year,
the
studio
confirmed
Tuesday.
The
latest
round
of
cuts
will
affect
the
PC
development
team
behind
Riot’s
massively
popular
MOBA
title
League
of
Legends.
Riot
said
the
layoffs
were
part
of
larger
changes
to
its
teams
that
would
ensure
long-term
growth
and
improvement
of
League.
The
affected
employees
will
receive
a
severance
package,
the
studio
said.
Riot
Games
Cuts
More
Jobs
In
its
announcement,
Riot
Games
said
that
the
decision
to
eliminate
roles
wasn’t
taken
to
“save
money,”
and
the
League
of
Legends
team
will
eventually
grow
in
size.
“As
part
of
these
changes,
we’ve
made
the
tough
decision
to
eliminate
some
roles.
This
isn’t
about
reducing
headcount
to
save
money—it’s
about
making
sure
we
have
the
right
expertise
so
that
League
continues
to
be
great
for
another
15
years
and
beyond,”
Riot
Games
co-founder
Marc
Merrill
said
in
a
post
on
X
Tuesday.
“While
team
effectiveness
is
more
important
than
team
size,
the
League
team
will
eventually
be
even
larger
than
it
is
today
as
we
develop
the
next
phase
of
League,”
he
added.
Riot
did
not
confirm
the
number
of
staffers
affected
by
the
latest
round
of
layoffs
in
its
announcement,
but
a
studio
spokesperson
confirmed
to
Eurogamer
that
32
employees,
including
27
roles
on
the
League
of
Legends
team
and
an
additional
five
roles
in
publishing,
will
be
impacted.
Laid
off
employees
will
be
provided
with
a
severance
package,
that
includes
a
minimum
of
six
months’
pay,
annual
bonus,
job
placement
assistance,
health
coverage,
and
more,
Merrill
said
in
his
post.
According
to
the
Riot
co-founder,
the
studio
was
working
on
the
“next
phase”
of
League
of
Legends
and
would
share
more
about
its
“ambitious
plans”
for
the
game
in
the
future.
This
is
the
second
round
of
layoffs
to
hit
Riot
Games
this
year.
In
January,
the
studio
laid
off
530
employees
––
about
11
percent
of
its
global
workforce.
Teams
outside
of
core
development
absorbed
the
largest
impact
from
the
layoffs.
“Today,
we’re
a
company
without
a
sharp
enough
focus,
and
simply
put,
we
have
too
many
things
underway.
Some
of
the
significant
investments
we’ve
made
aren’t
paying
off
the
way
we
expected
them
to.
Our
costs
have
grown
to
the
point
where
they’re
unsustainable,”
Riot
Games
CEO
Dylan
Jadeja
had
said
in
a
letter
to
employees
at
the
time.
