An
update from Riot Games is a lengthy discussion of the future direction of
the developer from CEO Nicolo Laurent. This takes the long view, discussing
goals for the company spanning the next five years. This discusses plans to
focus on core gaming strengths. It also addresses the settlement of the gender
discrimination lawsuit: "While we’re proud of how far we’ve come since 2018,
it’s important that we also take responsibility for our past. Given the
ambitious goals we have for the future and the tens of millions of dollars we’d
spend each year on lawyers to help resolve these cases—money we’d rather pay to
the women in the class and to invest in Riot’s future—it became clear during
these past several months that the best outcome for everyone would be to come to
a final resolution." And after being involved in scandals and legal actions over
its workplace culture, the company is stressing having the right people on
staff. Since this will include changing roles for some staff, Riot is expanding
the "Queue Dodge" program that allows a graceful exit for unhappy employees. For
happy employees, the company is expanding its compensation program to give
partial ownership to its staff. Here's a bit:
With our new strategic plan,
evolutions to our culture, new compensation and operating models, and new teams
in place, we’re confident that we’re putting Riot in the best position to hit
our ambitious goals. But some Rioters might not share that same confidence. They
might not be excited about our strategy, or might not be feeling great about our
new operating model. They might not like the changes we’re making to our culture
or our plans to return to the office on a flex schedule. Or maybe they’re
looking at this transition point as an opportunity to explore something
different outside of Riot.
For anyone who isn’t on board with everything above and isn’t committed to the
things we want to make for players, there will be no hard feelings. We want
every Rioter to feel energized, supported and excited for the next phase of our
climb.