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Staff in the UK and Ireland have not been impacted by the latest Riot Games layoffs announced yesterday evening by Riot co-founder Marc Merrill.
32 staff have been laid off, most of them across the League of Legends PC development team.
A Riot spokesperson confirmed to Esports News UK that none in the UK and Ireland have been affected.
Riot has a UK office in Reading, which acts as an EMEA publishing hub and is home to the company’s Northern Europe publishing team. And in Dublin, Ireland, Riot houses its EMEA HQ and Project Stryker broadcast facility.
Marc Merrill said in a statement yesterday: “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.
“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.
“For Rioters who are laid off, we’re supporting them with a severance package that includes a minimum of six months’ pay, annual bonus, job placement assistance, health coverage, and more.”
He added: “Size and budget aren’t the right way to measure whether a team will be successful. We’ve definitely been memed in the past for talking about budgets, and rightly so. Success isn’t about throwing more people or money at a challenge.
“We’ve seen small teams at Riot (and elsewhere) build incredible things, while large teams (both at Riot and elsewhere) miss the mark. While the League team will ultimately be larger after these changes, what matters more than size is having the right team, right priorities, and a sustainable approach to delivering what players need.
“If we’re solving the wrong problems, more resources won’t fix it. It’s about building smarter and healthier, not just bigger.”
The news comes after Riot laid off 530 staff at the start of 2024.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
