Riot Games reviews

-no bonus structure, which is beyond odd, especially for a company in the games industry. -lots of "rah rah" attitude around accomplishments while muttered in the same sentence to "stay humble" -manifesto is used as a shield for bad behaviors, especially by managers -productivity is non-existent during the day for some teams because all they do is have meetings and play LoL -one game/product, etc creates a lot of whispering and toxicity around new products as there's a strong belief that most things will never see the light of day -teams spin up and down at break-neck speed, creating huge communication gaps and unreliability around ownership -the growing pains are frequent and totally unchecked by Senior Leadership -bro culture is everywhere and sometimes downright offensive to anyone not cis-white-male -high turnover, especially in the last 12 months- some people who have been with the company for 2-5 years are leaving, which is a huge red flag Basically, it is/was a great company, but currently it's devolving into a place where either you work hard for little individual respect, appreciation, or advancement or else you're totally content to work a 10-7 job with great perks where you never really HAVE to finish anything (unless suddenly you do because *reasons*) - and that all depends on your team and manager, and whether you're working on anything people care about, which if it isn't LoL, isn't likely. Most people are frustrated with the workload, management, slow development cycle, or all of the above at Riot.

The current vision and future plans are uninspiring and weak, but when you put Publishing in charge of the company you will become a stolid publisher like many game companies before. In reality, Nicolo’s vision is executed as “all the things, let’s not miss out on China and give Jin more”. There is a lack of accountability throughout, especially in Senior and Executive Leadership, which is evidenced by Publishing becoming so powerful despite being the worst-performing area of the company for years (and they defunded the teams that were supposed to measure their performance), but yet their leader just keeps getting more power. Many in leadership care more about your "approach" versus what you contribute. They ask for your feedback but they don’t really want it, especially if you point out "the emperor has no clothes". At this point, be prepared for feedback about being critical, or advised to get aligned or to stick to your lane. You may then hear a narrative about you being negative or misaligned. If you want to progress to VP and above, be prepared to be political but look, this goes for most companies so that’s just life, but it seems to have become worse since the CEO change. The executive team have empowered the vocal minority (i.e. the Slack warriors, who are bitter about everything and whose job seems to be to ensure every social issue is a focus for Riot), while also rewarding many overly political leaders, who drive mostly failure, dish the kool-aid without any substance and never have to worry about being held accountable. So, with the culture changing, reward for performance “standardized”, and unaccountable leadership who continue to be allowed to get away with anything, the best talent is now leaving (during a pandemic) - many good leaders, upper management layer (who carried the company despite the weak executive layer) and ICs (i.e. the doers). Leadership has a tough job now on their hands to ensure more talent doesn’t leave but it’s mostly of their own making. They will most likely protect themselves and tell their own narrative regarding those who have left were not a cultural fit or were negative, i.e. “don’t worry, we are stronger now”. In closing, if you’re reading this and thinking about joining Riot, it really depends on the area you’re joining and its leadership. There are many amazing and talented people there (LoL, TFT & Valorant would be the highlights, though they’ve also lost a plethora of talent) but it is a cult and be wary of the narrative. There will also probably be an exodus of talent next March when the final big bonus payment drops.