Riot Games Lay Offs Over 500 Employees! Riot Forge and LoR Are Dead?!

The Riot Games lay offs have been a major conversation recently since it coincided with a lot of other jobs lost throughout the gaming industry within the past few weeks. In combination with the Microsoft-Blizzard, Unity, and Twitch layoffs, over 5000 employees within the gaming industry have lost their job. What happened to Riot Games as a company that forced them to let go of such a large number of employees in a single week?

Riot Games Lay Offs Reach 500 and Counting!

The Riot Games community receives devastating news when they heard that a lot of people are getting laid off from the company. Many feared that some of their favorite developers, artists, or personalities might get taken out of the company. However, Riot Games clarified the scope of the lay offs will only affect two major divisions which are the Riot Forge team and Legends of Runeterra divisions.

The Riot Games lay offs were carefully executed by the company, ensuring that the backlash from the community would be as soft as possible. They ensured that the employees that were laid off got at least 6 months in severance pay in addition to a colorful array of parting gifts such as health checks, employment assistance, and visa support. This was made to look like Riot Games cares about their employees and sure enough, a large number of people and even those affected were convinced by this act.

Needless to say, these colorful gifts did not buy the sympathy of all the people who got affected by the Riot Games lay offs. Most people are simply in shock and are saddened by the situation that they find themselves in. There are some who are bitter since they don’t believe that Riot Games are in a situation where they need to lay off their employees, given how successful their recent projects have been financially.

While Legends of Runeterra has been a big flop for the past few years, it is definitely a surprise that Riot Games decided to pull the plug on Riot Forge after only a few years. Titles like Ruined King surely made a lot of sales. However, with the number of staff they allocated in this subsidiary company, it might bring more light as to why they were forced to get rid of a large number of their employees to prevent more funds from being drained down.

Legends of Runeterra is Dead?

A massive wave of Riot Games lay offs swept out a lot of employees from the company but both Riot Games and the heads of development assured the people that Legends of Runeterra was there to stay and will instead be shifting its focus more on single player modes. The laying off of its personnel was a move made to ensure that the game’s survival since it would help them save a lot of funding.

The game’s survival is secured temporarily but we don’t know how long it will last. It seems Riot Games is doing everything to ensure that it doesn’t get shut down since it is an essential piece in developing the current universe. The game has been experiencing financial difficulties due to Riot Games’ insistence on making sure the title isn’t pay-to-win in any way possible. It is still in danger of getting shut down permanently in the future.

Riot Forge Was a Massive Flop!

Riot Forge was a recent project that aimed to give small game development companies a chance to contribute their work by using the name and resources from the company to deliver a working title. Unfortunately, a lot of the titles they released simply did not connect with the core community and many of the titles became massive flops that fans of Riot Games simply did not care about and the multiple failures simply added up one after the other.

Many people were excited about the concept of Riot Forge bringing small game developers into the spotlight but idealism doesn’t exactly fund these big companies that are created for the sake of raking in the cash. Once the hype faded, the games didn’t sell as much as Ruined King: A League of Legends Story did in the beginning. We’re not blaming the community for Riot Forge’s failure but it is definitely an inevitability that fell upon a game company that did not have predatory monetization mechanics.

What Will Happen to Riot Games in the Future?

Riot Games was not in any financial distress but it did see some of its branches not being able to sustain themselves and decided to cut out some parts of itself to ensure that it continues to thrive. The employees who lost their jobs are definitely upset but they are all taking it at a different level. We sympathize with the people who work as members of the gaming community and are equally as upset that these people have lost their jobs.

For Riot Games, we can only hope that they use the additional resources that they freed up to be put to good use. For the sake of those that have lost their jobs and those who are fortunate enough to stay in the company, we hope that the company continues to create more working titles that the community will enjoy. Additionally, we hope that they continue updating and developing current titles so that people will continue loving the games they love to play today.

We already mentioned this before in a lot of our previous titles but we will repeat that Riot Games and League of Legends will surely be here for the long run. The only thing that can kill the company now after having extremely successful titles like League of Legends and VALORANT is intervention from powerful forces like the government. Even its leadership is extremely cautious and is trying hard not to be involved in any type of scandal.

However, even the most cautious companies eventually get caught with their pants down. Riot Games has a lot of enemies that are waiting for them to make a mistake. Major competitors will be there when the company makes that mistake. For now League of Legends in 2024 is looking great and will be its vanguard towards taking the company to the future.