Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer and esports tournament organizer
based in West Los Angeles, California.
The company was founded in August 2006 by University of Southern California roommates
Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, as they sought to create a company that continuously improves
on an already released game, instead of commencing development on a new one.
Riot Games was majority-acquired by Tencent in February 2011 and fully acquired in December
2015.
As of May 2018, Riot Games operates 24 offices around the world, in which it employs 2,500
staff members.
Riot Games is best known for League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena game and
the company's flagship product.
The game was first released in October 2009, and subsequently became the game with highest
active player count by 2013.
Since 2011, 2013 and 2015, respectively, Riot Games also operates the League of Legends
World Championship, Championship Series and Mid-Season Invitational esports tournaments
for their game.
== History == Riot Games' founders, Brandon "Ryze" Beck
and Marc "Tryndamere" Merrill, became friends while business students and roommates at the
University of Southern California, where they bonded over video games.
Beck and Merrill were frustrated because they felt game developers were not listening to
fans.
Developers, they believed, moved from game to game too quickly, leaving their passionate
communities behind.
During their time playing video games together, Beck and Merrill created an idea for a company
that continually introduced new features to its games.
Rather than follow the video game industry formula of releasing game after game, Beck
and Merrill sought to create a company that was player-focused and made games that constantly
evolved.
They drew inspiration from Asian video game designers who were offering games for free,
yet charging for additional perks.
The founders thought it would be unfair to create a pay-to-win game, so they decided
Riot Games would not sell upgrades that other players receive through skill.
Rather, the additional perks would include cosmetic improvements such as new clothes
that changed characters' appearance, so players can personalize their experience.Beck and
Merrill sought funding from family and angel investors, originally raising US$1.5 million
to launch Riot Games in Los Angeles, California.
The company was incorporated under the laws of California on August 31, 2006.
The first person Riot Games recruited was Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, a developer on the multiplayer
online battle arena game DotA Allstars.
As they refined League of Legends' initial creation, they sold investors on the plan
for a video game company rooted in e-commerce, which led to several rounds of funding that
totaled to $8 million, including investments by the Benchmark and FirstMark Capital venture
capital firms, as well as Chinese holding company Tencent, who would later become League
of Legends' distributor in China.Riot Games released League of Legends as a free-to-play
game on October 27, 2009.
The company continued to develop League of Legends by allowing players to offer feedback.
Their game designers and executives participated in online forums to make adjustments based
on player feedback.On May 10, 2010, Riot Games announced that they would take over distribution
and operation of their game in Europe; to do so, Riot Games relocated their European
headquarters in Brighton to new offices in Dublin.
In February 2011, Tencent paid $400 million for a 93 percent stake in Riot Games.
Tencent bought the remaining 7 percent in December 16, 2015; the price was not disclosed.In
2012, in response to toxicity and harassment in video game culture, Riot Games launched
a "player behavior team" of psychologists to combat harassment on its platform.
Riot Games' tactics to address issues on League of Legends, including an opt-in chat function
between opposing players, informing banned players of the reasoning behind the ban, and
creating a tribunal of players to weigh in on bans, resulted in a 30 percent drop in
reported harassment behavior.
By 2013, League of Legends has been the most-played multiplayer PC game in the world.
From 2014 to 2016, the number of active League of Legends players grew from 67 million to
more than 100 million.Riot Games relocated to a new building on a 20-acre campus in West
Los Angeles in 2015.
In March 2016, Riot Games acquired Radiant Entertainment, another developer who was working
on Rising Thunder and Stonehearth at the time.
Rising Thunder was effectively canceled following the acquisition, with the game's team allocated
to a new project.
On October 13, 2017, Beck and Merrill announced that they were returning their focus to developing
games, aiming to create new experiences for video game and esports players.
Beck and Merrill handed over the day-to-day operations and overall management of the League
of Legends team to three longtime employees: Dylan Jadeja, Scott Gelb and Nicolo Laurent,
who previously served as chief financial officer (CFO), chief technology officer (CTO) and
president, respectively.
Subsequently, Gelb and Laurent assumed roles as chief operating officer (COO) and chief
executive officer (CEO), respectively, while Beck and Merrill became the Riot Games' chairmen.
As of May 2018, Riot Games employs 2,500 people, operating 24 offices around
the globe.
== Esports ==
Riot Games operates esports leagues worldwide.
This includes the League of Legends Championship Series, comprising leagues in North America
and Europe.
In total, there are more than 100 teams in Riot Games' 14 regional leagues around the
world.
Teams compete over the course of a season separated into two seasonal splits.
Teams earn championship points to qualify for two major international competitions:
the Mid-Season Invitational and the League of Legends World Championship.
Riot Games' World Championship is the annual professional tournament at the conclusion
of each season.In June 2014, Alessandro Di Fiore, the founder and CEO of the European
Centre for Strategic Innovation, wrote in Harvard Business Review that Riot Games' League
of Legends was the massively multiplayer online game that epitomized the growth of the esports
industry.
During 2010 and 2011, the Riot Games team developed new content for League of Legends;
it was during this time that the company realized that people did not only like to play League
of Legends, but also liked to watch it.
As a result, Riot Games established its own League of Legends esports leagues that produce
weekly broadcasts and create a professional game schedule.
Following Riot Games' first world championship event in 2011, a small affair at a conference
in Sweden, the company decided to turn their tournaments into pro sports-like events.
It invested in broadcasting equipment, hired sports programming producers, and trained
pro gamers to be "TV-ready".
In 2012, Riot Games held its tournament at University of Southern California's Galen
Center, offering $1 million in prize money.
Riot Games has since held tournaments in Berlin, Seoul, Madison Square Garden in New York City,
and the Staples Center in Los Angeles.The company sells corporate sponsorships, merchandise,
and streaming rights for its esports league.
In 2015, investors bought stakes in teams and began building their own squads.
Among the team owners in Riot Games' leagues are the owners of the Washington Wizards,
Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles
Dodgers, AOL co-founder Steve Case, and life coach Tony Robbins. Inc. cited the growth
of the leagues and high-profile ownership as part of its reasoning for making Riot Games
its 2016 Company of the Year.
Following debates over whether pro players and coaches should have a greater share of
Riot Games' esports revenue and concerns raised about the company making in-game changes prior
to matches, the company issued an open letter in 2016 promising higher revenue shares and
more collaboration with professional teams.
In 2017, Riot Games held the League of Legends World Championships in Beijing.
The same year, the company announced it would franchise its ten-team North American League
of Legends Championship Series, which cost at least $10 million to enter.
== Allegations over gender discrimination ==
Over the first half of 2018, Kotaku spoke to about 28 former and current employees at
Riot Games, several which claimed that female employees at Riot were being discriminated
against, such as ideas from female employees being overlooked while the same ideas from
male employees being readily accepted, and some female employees being groomed for more
senior positions only to be passed up by a new male hire.
These employees described the environment within Riot as a "bro culture", more like
a fraternity than a workplace.
Kotaku published these interviews in an August 2018 report, and speculated that this came
from Riot's history of generally catering to "core" gamers both in products and in hiring
practices, which would cause the company to favor male employees over females.
Kotaku did speak to some Riot employees who stated these accusations were not true or
were already being addressed; for example, Oksana Kubushyna, the head of platform, stated
that efforts to improve the hiring process to be more diverse and inclusive toward women
had started about nine months prior to Kotaku's article.
Riot Games' corporate communications lead Joe Hixson responded to the Kotaku article,
stating "This article shines a light on areas where we haven't lived up to our own values,
which will not stand at Riot.
We've taken action against many of the specific instances in the article, and we're committed
to digging in, addressing every issue, and fixing the underlying causes.
All Rioters must be accountable for creating an environment where everyone has an equal
opportunity to be heard, grow their role, advance in the organization, and fulfill their
potential."In the week following Kotaku's article, several more current and former developers
came forward to speak on their own experiences at Riot, which included claims of sexual harassment
and misgendering.
In a statement to Gamasutra, Hixson stated that the company is taking action based on
the story and its response.
Hixson stated that "our primary goal is to be listening to the personal experiences and
stories of everyone that has ever been part of the Riot team" and "in instances where
former Rioters are raising issues that we need to take action against, we are attempting
to get in contact with them to learn more so we can take action".
Hixson further stated that in regards to some claims of misbehavior to higher-level executives
at Riot, "we’re investigating and will uphold our zero tolerance stance, no matter the seniority
of those involved."
By the end of the August 2018, Riot stated they were implemented seven "first steps"
to change the company's internal culture in light of the issued raised, including a "Culture
and Diversity & Inclusion Initiative" priority.
To help implement these, Riot hired Frances X.
Frei as a senior adviser for diversity, leadership, and strategy.Despite these announcements,
Riot Games's stance was put into the spotlight at the 2018 PAX West event at the start of
September 2018.
Due to the Kotaku article, Riot offered a session for attendees interested into getting
into the video game industry some roundtable talks and one-on-one sessions to review resumes,
but only admitted "women and nonbinary" people for a majority of this period; otherwise,
the sessions were made available to view online by anyone after the event.
Members of Riot's game communities expressed outrage at the exclusion of men, while Riot
employees defended the decision as such gender-exclusive support was necessary to correct the male-dominated
nature of video game development.
Some of the feedback towards Riot included harassment and threats, and, in combination
with events from the shooting at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida the prior
month, Riot plans to increase security at its upcoming events.
Two employees of Riot attempted to address the feedback from the PAX event, leading one
to be fired and the other to leave the company; Riot stated that these departures were separate
from their Diversity Initiative.About three months after Kotaku's story, one current and
one former Riot employees filed a lawsuit against the company, asserting the company
engaged in gender discrimination in relation to their pay and position, and that the company
had created a hostile workplace that including "the ongoing sexual harassment, misconduct,
and bias which predominate the sexually-hostile working environment of Riot Games".
The lawsuit seeks to qualify it as a class-action suit, and for damages to be based on unpaid
wages, damages, and other factors to be determined at trial.In December 2018, Riot's CEO Nicolo
Laurent sent an email to all employees stating that following the company's own internal
investigation, their COO, Scott Gelb, was suspended for two months without pay for workplace
misconduct and would take training classes before his return.
Riot stated to Kotaku that there still other cases they were investigating but did not
involve those as senior as Gelb, and thus would not discuss these cases publicly.
== Games developed ==
=== Minigames ===
== Reception == Ernst & Young — Entrepreneurs of the Year
(Beck and Merrill) (2011) Business Insider — 4th of the 25 Best Tech
Companies to Work For (2013) Game Developers Choice Awards — Pioneer
Award (Beck and Merrill) (2014) Glassdoor — 18th of the 50 Best Places to
Work (2015) Fortune — 39th of the 100 Best Companies
to Work For (2016) Inc.
— Company of the Year (2016) British Academy of Film and Television Arts
— Special Award (2017) National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
— Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Graphic Design (2018