Riot Games, the developer of "League of Legends", announced the layoff of 530 people (about 11% of the total number of employees) in early 2024. Riot insisted that the layoffs were "necessary" and said that its costs "increased to the point of being unsustainable... (there is) no room for experimentation or failure."
However, ten months later, Riot Games announced the second round of layoffs this year. The studio said the latest round of layoffs "is not about reducing headcount to save money — it's about ensuring we have the right expertise in place so that League of Legends continues to excel for the next 15 years and beyond."
Riot co-founder Marc Merrill tweeted: "While team efficiency is more important than team size, as we develop the next phase of League of Legends, the League of Legends team will ultimately be larger than it is now. For Riot employees who are laid off, we will provide them with severance package support, including at least six months of salary, annual bonuses, job placement assistance, health insurance, and more."
It is understood that a total of 32 employees have been affected in this round of layoffs, including 27 members of the "League of Legends" team, and the remaining 5 laid off employees are from the publishing department. Riot Games also said: "Laid-off Riot employees will be able to use our internal recruiting section to apply for any open positions within the company."