There’s a lot going on at Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends and Valorant. Shortly after new details about a lawsuit from 2018 became known, the boss announced his resignation.
What’s the deal with the money? The payments are said to mark the end of a class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination that began in 2018. The lawsuit was settled in 2021, and new details have now become known through a court filing filed by Rust Consulting in April (via Axios).
What was the lawsuit about? We at MeinMMO already reported on the lawsuit in 2018. At that time, a former and a current employee sued the studio behind League of Legends and Valorant. They accused Riot Games of paying women less and promoting them less often than men.
In addition, there is said to have been a kind of macho culture at Riot Games: Among other things, managers are said to have kept a list of women who they found attractive.
In 2019, an agreement was reached to set up a $10 million fund. It should be distributed among all women who have worked at Riot Games in the past 5 years. However, the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing objected to the deal.
Finally, in 2021, Riot Games and the plaintiffs settled in a “historic settlement” for $100 million, which was approved by a judge in 2022 (via Axios).
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Some women are said to get more than $150,000
What’s new now? The terms of the agreement have now been revealed. The details emerge from a filing that Rust Consulting, which managed the process, filed in April and the.
Has anything changed at Riot? The studio commissioned its own investigation at the time, which concluded that “gender discrimination (in pay or promotion), sexual harassment, and retaliation were not systemic issues at Riot” (via PC Gamer).
Since the lawsuit, Riot Games has taken a variety of actions, including hiring a chief diversity officer, internal reporting and plans for its workplace culture, and publishing annual diversity and inclusion reports.
There was a setback in 2019, however, when another lawsuit was filed against Riot and CEO Nicolo Laurent. Former employee Sharon O’Donell, who worked for Laurent as an executive assistant, accused him of inappropriate and sexually suggestive behavior.
Another internal investigation at the time concluded that there was no evidence of harassment, discrimination or punishment against Sharon O’Donnell. It is not known whether the lawsuit is ongoing or has been settled.
However, shortly after the details of the class action lawsuit became known, Riot announced that Laurent would step down as CEO.
CEO resigns – for wife and family
What’s the deal with resignation? In a letter to employees, Laurent writes that the decision has been planned for a long time and gives personal reasons for the resignation:
I can imagine this news coming suddenly, but honestly it’s a decision that’s been on my mind for a while. [Meine Zeit bei Riot ist] a story I’m very proud of, but if I’m honest it was also exhausting.
Not the grind, the hours, the stress… I have a tank build so I can handle that part.
It’s actually the personal compromises that have been hard and the sacrifices that my wife and children have made for my career, including all of our emigrations.
Nicolo Laurent via Riot Games
Now, according to Laurent, the family wants to move back to France. He does not want to join another company, instead he will continue to work for Riot in an advisory capacity.
What else is going on at Riot
A. Dylan Jadeja, who joined Riot in 2011 as Chief Financial Officer and has been President since 2017, will become the new CEO of Riot Games. Over the next few months, Laurent and Jadeja are set to work together, with the latter taking on the role of CEO.
Although Laurent did not address the complaints or allegations of a macho culture in his letter, he did highlight “empathy” as one of Jadeja’s greatest strengths. The latter, in turn, issued a short letter in which he explained that he wanted to do “some things” differently than his predecessor.
Riot should become the most trusted and authentic gaming company in the world – by players, for players.
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