Real Reason Riot Claims They Had to “Eliminate Some Roles” after Mass Layoffs Rock Valorant Developer

It’s no secret that many major gaming industry giants have been struck by mass layoffs. Most studios got rid of a lot of their employees as a part of their cost-cutting plan, however, Riot Games isn’t trying to save money with its latest round of layoffs.

The studio has announced that it will lay off a lot of its employees from the League of Legends PC development team, however, it has promised that the team will eventually be even larger than it is today. Riot Games aims to prioritize team effectiveness over team size with this crucial move.

Riot Games Once Again Laid Off Its Employees

In an X post, Riot Games co-founder, Marc Merrill, revealed that Riot Games is eliminating some roles in the League of Legends PC development team to make sure that they have the right expertise. Merrill explained that this tough decision was not made to save money,

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.

A spokesperson told IGN that 27 employees of the League of Legends development team and five employees of Riot’s publishing team were impacted by these layoffs.

It is certainly quite unfortunate for all the employees who were laid off, but Riot Games has promised to support them with a severance package that includes a minimum of six months’ pay, an annual bonus, job placement assistance, health coverage, and more.

Riot Games Has Promised To Expand Its League of Legends Team In The Future

In the same post, Merrill explained that currently, Riot’s priority is team effectiveness, but in the future, they will expand its League of Legends development team,

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.

Having a bigger team is certainly good but Riot Games wants the right team, with right priorities, and a sustainable approach to delivering what players need. Merrill explained that size and budget aren’t the right way to measure whether a team will be successful as many small teams at Riot in the past have achieved more than bigger teams.

Riot Games aims to build a smarter and healthier team, not bigger. Merrill believes that if they are solving the wrong problems, more resources won’t fix it. He also made it clear that these changes will not slow down League of Legends.

A lot of employees in the gaming industry lost their jobs this year as many companies are trying to cut costs to stay in business. Ubisoft, for example, is failing to sell its highly anticipated games and as a result, there are rumors of a potential buyout of the studio.

Do you think these layoffs will help the gaming industry get back on track? Share your views in the comments!

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