Riot Games to let go of 11% of its workforce globally

Los Angeles-based game maker Riot Games is set to lay off about 11% of its workforce—about 530 employees—globally.

"We’re changing some of the bets we’ve made and shifting how we work across the company to create focus and move us toward a more sustainable future. This decision means we’re eliminating about 530 roles globally, which represents around 11% of our workforce, with the biggest impact to teams outside of core development," said Dylan Jadeja, CEO of Riot Games in an email to employees.

YourStory has seen a copy of the email shared to employees by Riot Games, which was also made public by the games maker.

It is not clear what percentage of the layoffs will affect the company's team in India.

YourStory had sent out a query to Riot Games on this. However, the company did not wish to comment on the impact of the layoffs on its India team.

With the layoffs, the company would also be sunsetting its game publishing vertical—Riot Forge, according to a blog post from the company.

"We’re proud of what we’ve done together to bring these stories (games) to life, but it’s time to refocus our efforts on the ambitious projects underway internally at Riot," Jadeja said.

Riot Games recently made its presence felt in India by hosting a series of tournaments featuring esports title Valorant.

The company, in an interview to YourStory, said that it was doubling down on its hyperlocal strategy in the country. Most recently, it celebrated the one-year anniversary of Harbor, Valorant's first Indian agent in the game, with a beach clean-up in Mumbai. It is looking to host more tournaments in the country.

Riot Games was acquired by gaming firm Tencent in 2011. It is well known for its esports titles Valorant and League of Legends.