Riot Games has promised to pay staff who decide to leave the company 25% of their base salary to "help transition to whatever is next". The policy comes amid Riot's new company plan that moves the company in an altered direction.
As detailed in a blog post by Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent, the company has outlined its plans for the next five years, both in terms of staffing structure and the content that it hopes to deliver fans. With the company set to move in a new direction, Riot has also stated that it will expand its "Queue Dodge" system for a brief period of time, meaning that any staff members who decide to leave the company in the wake of the announcement will be paid for the move.
"For a number of years, we’ve had a program in place called Queue Dodge," writes Laurent. "It’s a program that lets anyone opt out of Riot within their first six months and get paid part of their salary to help transition to whatever is next. No hard feelings."
"As we prepare for the next phase of growth, we’re opening Queue Dodge for a limited window for any Rioter, however long they’re been with us." Riot says that it wants staff choosing to stay at the company to be in line with its new strategic plan and ambitious goals, but that there will be no hard feelings to those who instead decide to look for work elsewhere.
The company's temporary Queue Dodge system will give those who want to leave 25% of their base salary with 3 months of COBRA benefits where applicable. Riot has also confirmed that those who opt to leave the company will receive their full bonuses, regardless of if they exit before the usual date they're paid out (late March in most offices).
Riot's new mission, says Laurent in the blog post, is to be "the most player-focused game company in the world," something that the CEO says isn't currently true but that the company is aspiring to work toward in the future.
"We'll always make games. But we also increasingly think that's an outdated way to categorise us," Laurent adds. "We don't want to be defined by the things we make, we want to be defined by the people we make them for. Put differently, we prefer to think of ourselves not as a games company but as a gamer's company."
Laurent's comments seemingly illustrate what appears to be the company attempting to turn a new page in its fifteen-year history. Last month, Riot Games agreed to pay a $100 million dollar settlement as part of a gender discrimination case that was brought against the company in 2018. Within the post, the CEO acknowledged the controversy that has surrounded the studio, stating that it would take the lessons that it has learned into the future.
"As we shared with Rioters, three years ago, Riot was at the heart of what became a reckoning in our industry," Laurent writes. "We've come a very long way since then-in our workplace, our processes, and our leadership-and we'll continue that work every day."
"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."
"To be clear, we aren't asking anyone to forget about this chapter and move on. On the contrary, the lessons we've learned together over the last few years will be a crucial part of the Riot Games origin story."
As Riot looks ahead toward 2022, Laurent signed off the post by thanking the staff members, sponsors, and players who have taken the company to where it is today. With that in mind, the CEO finished by stating that he hopes everyone involved with the comapny can join him in "believing the possibilities for the future are endless."
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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As detailed in a blog post by Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent, the company has outlined its plans for the next five years, both in terms of staffing structure and the content that it hopes to deliver fans. With the company set to move in a new direction, Riot has also stated that it will expand its "Queue Dodge" system for a brief period of time, meaning that any staff members who decide to leave the company in the wake of the announcement will be paid for the move.
"For a number of years, we’ve had a program in place called Queue Dodge," writes Laurent. "It’s a program that lets anyone opt out of Riot within their first six months and get paid part of their salary to help transition to whatever is next. No hard feelings."
"As we prepare for the next phase of growth, we’re opening Queue Dodge for a limited window for any Rioter, however long they’re been with us." Riot says that it wants staff choosing to stay at the company to be in line with its new strategic plan and ambitious goals, but that there will be no hard feelings to those who instead decide to look for work elsewhere.
The company's temporary Queue Dodge system will give those who want to leave 25% of their base salary with 3 months of COBRA benefits where applicable. Riot has also confirmed that those who opt to leave the company will receive their full bonuses, regardless of if they exit before the usual date they're paid out (late March in most offices).
Riot's new mission, says Laurent in the blog post, is to be "the most player-focused game company in the world," something that the CEO says isn't currently true but that the company is aspiring to work toward in the future.
"We'll always make games. But we also increasingly think that's an outdated way to categorise us," Laurent adds. "We don't want to be defined by the things we make, we want to be defined by the people we make them for. Put differently, we prefer to think of ourselves not as a games company but as a gamer's company."
Laurent's comments seemingly illustrate what appears to be the company attempting to turn a new page in its fifteen-year history. Last month, Riot Games agreed to pay a $100 million dollar settlement as part of a gender discrimination case that was brought against the company in 2018. Within the post, the CEO acknowledged the controversy that has surrounded the studio, stating that it would take the lessons that it has learned into the future.
"As we shared with Rioters, three years ago, Riot was at the heart of what became a reckoning in our industry," Laurent writes. "We've come a very long way since then-in our workplace, our processes, and our leadership-and we'll continue that work every day."
"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."
"To be clear, we aren't asking anyone to forget about this chapter and move on. On the contrary, the lessons we've learned together over the last few years will be a crucial part of the Riot Games origin story."
As Riot looks ahead toward 2022, Laurent signed off the post by thanking the staff members, sponsors, and players who have taken the company to where it is today. With that in mind, the CEO finished by stating that he hopes everyone involved with the comapny can join him in "believing the possibilities for the future are endless."
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Continue reading...