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      Riot Games

      Engaged Employer

      Riot Games reviews

      4.0

      75% would recommend to a friend

      (1,043 total reviews)
      avatar

      Dylan Jadeja

      68% approve of CEO

      54% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Riot Games has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 1,043 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Riot Games employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      1K reviews
      5.0
      May 8, 2014

      embracing change - a company for the entrepreneurial spirited

      Senior animator
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I've been with the company close to 5 years all the way from them being a less than 40 people company up to now more than 1,000 Rioters and while I had multiple (lucrative) offers to leave this is the right place for me to be at. There are a lot of things I just love about this company: a) Riot puts players first. There's not a single meeting I've been in where an argument about player value didn't trump any business argument standing against it. If it's better for the player, Riot will put their money and time where their mouth is and work on it. As a gamer all my life this is a wonderful position to be in. b) Riot embraces change. Growing from 40 to over 1,000 people doesn't come without it's share of issues to solve. That means if ever practices are put in place that are harmful to Rioters, the players, or the business itself people are ok with owning up to it and changing it. Since change is welcomed it's also more ok to fail, esp. on the art team where finding the "better" solution can often take weeks of work. c) Unlimited vacation days - I'm a hard working individual that loves to invest myself into my work, but if life happens (and it will happen) I love that Riot steps up and helps me take care of it. You need to move? Talk to your team, make sure your work is taken care off, and take time off to move. Or you're struck by sickness? Go home, let it heal, come back and don't get everyone else sick (yay, for not getting people sick). d) Working from home is ok. Since I have a lot of interaction with other artists I need to be in the office a lot, but in general it's ok to take 1 day out of 2 weeks and work from home. This benefits me and other Rioters greatly as it keeps morale high and allows for some concentrated time working at home as well. e) Riot cares for us. Very decent health coverage, job stability, annual trips (at least so far), countless programs of all kinds (free lunch Tuesday, sport programs etc.)... there's literally too much to do outside of work that Riot takes care off. It feels great to know that they care enough to make these things happen. f) Rioters work hard... and I would have it no other way. I don't want to be a pencil pusher that clocks in at 9am and can't wait for 5pm to hit. Rioters work hard, they love to play games and laugh, and they love to create awesome stuff... There's a healthy balance (since we are a live game and can't crunch - at least on the art side) of hard work and going home. g) There's a lot of different initiatives I started since I've been at this company and the fact that Riot embraces this entrepreneurial spirit is awesome. I get bored to do the same thing over and over again for year after year. I need challenges... and with over 70 million players there are lot of challenges and opportunities. Time and again I've suggested or witnessed sometimes crazy ideas and time and again I've seen them being embraced. "Let's try it out" and "well, if you want to spin that up, why don't you?" are common phrases around here... and as long as that's the case I will never get bored around here. Overall, I can highly recommend this company. If you love games, like to work, love to create and want to have amazing other artists around this is a fantastic place to be at.

      Cons

      - be expected to perform at a high level on a constant basis. This is not a shop to clock in and out - Riot has a lot of type A personalities. Don't get discouraged by that, but there are a lot of driven, hard working people here. If that's not your cup of tea you might want to find a calmer job - as a father of three it's hard to find a good school district close to Riot. I'm hoping for a bus system that reaches further regions like Orange County and Valencia to help with that, but for now I have to commute a lot - Riot has too much awesome stuff going on - and believe me, you'll feel left out here and there. It's a good problem to have, though, but know that you can't do all self-improvement classes that are offered. - forgetting top down structures you've might have learned from other companies. Riot likes elf-organized, driven people - that's not a con, per se... but it's something to be aware of before applying

      2.0
      May 2, 2014

      A siren song hides rocks ahead

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Flexible schedule The hours are flexible, which is awesome. No one is actively babysitting you (unlike much of the corporate world these days). Feel free to shuffle your hours around as long as you make all of your (MANY) meetings, which in practice puts a damper on that flexibility. Better stay a couple hours late, so you have time to actually do the work we talked about in all those meetings. Your work can touch a massive audience That is, if it's in the 5-10% of things we do that actually see the light of day. Most projects are a complete mess and get rebooted constantly. It's demoralizing when players complain about needing feature or product X that we've been working on for years, but will probably never ship due to internal politics. Some Riot time might look good on a resume because of our reach, but don't plan on Riot being good for your portfolio, or your confidence. Play League of Legends at work You should, because you'll need some kind of stress relief from the insanity, if you can squeeze a game in between meetings. Again, super cool benefit but kind of hampered by the reality of Riot life. The other double-edged sword is that people get really loud when they play. If your work schedule doesn't match up to your neighbors' prepare for constant distraction as they shout profanities at each other across the room. Lots of free food Remember the freshman 15? Try the Riot 20! This is how Riot shows it's love. Catered meetings and presentations, late night dinner subsidies, adult beverages at company wide events. It's really nice for the first few months. The numerous college-aged kids at Riot get excited about it a lot longer, but it's appeal can only last so long. Benefits This is one of the few areas where Riot shines. Primarily because it is easy to throw a chunk of money at the people team and there's not a lot of politics involved. If your SO doesn't have their own coverage, Riot will subsidize them as if they are an employee, which is a very nice gesture and is probably very useful to some Rioters. 401k match is decent too.

      Cons

      Ineffective leadership Titles don't matter, except when they do. What passes for autonomy here is a lot of theoretical talk about possible directions we can go among the masses at Riot, but the actual decisions are all still made in closed door meetings between product owners and top leaders. Once teams observe this effect, they tend to flail around trying to please the leadership. There's a real sense that no one at the top really understands which of our early decisions caused our success and which were the decisions we succeeded in spite of, so many of our leaders are afraid to make the kind of bold decisions we need to raise quality to where we want it. Painful conversations often just get kicked down the road, so we trudge on with the status quo. Many mid to upper level managers are inexperienced and/or insensitive, causing pockets of poor morale and patterns of avoidance. Our values often ring false One example: we use that word humbitious (ambitious but humble). Honestly, I think we are starting to fail at both. There's a lack of urgency in the decision making progress, because it feels like we automatically rake in a fortune no matter what we do, so why rock the boat? The humble part is fading too. There are a lot of alpha types that dominate conversations and leave little room for healthy debate. Nobody is really keeping these people in check, and they are found in many leadership positions. We're overly focused on hiring over internal promotion The discipline leaders are so focused on desperately hiring as fast as possible, that they aren't nurturing their existing teams properly. If you are currently being wooed by Riot recruiters, enjoy it. It's possibly the last time you will feel like Riot really cares about your growth. There is no clear path to promotion, and it's rare to hear about them. We recently started a regular performance review program, but the reviews don't appear to have any relationship to compensation or title. Stagnant compensation If you join up you'd better darn well negotiate like a boss, because you're getting stuck with that salary for the long haul. Riot is so obsessed with hiring, that it is ignoring the stagnant compensation of it's existing teams. This a growing powder keg that few are talking about except in frustrated whispers, because leadership has made it clear that we should just do our work out of a passion for our players. It seems the managers below them have interpreted that literally to mean no one should talk about money. Ever. Sure, passion is our primary motivation, but passion only stretches so far when you never get cost of living adjustments or bonuses to prop up dead wages and the office is located in Santa Monica, one of the most expensive areas to live in So. Cal. Mixed messages.

      5.0
      Apr 21, 2014

      Player Focused - It Works!

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I've worked at several game studios over the past decade and can say, without hesitation, Riot is the best company I've ever been a part of. + Marc and Brandon (the founders) are legitimate gamers and great leaders that genuinely care about the experiences Riot delivers to players. This trickles down throughout the organization. + Riot is a business, but the strategy is "deliver awesome and the players will reward us" instead of "figure out how to squeeze every last dime out them" + There's a healthy balance of affording teams autonomy while keeping them in sync with organizational efforts. + Tremendous career growth opportunities for individuals, both horizontally and vertically. + Great compensation, benefits, and perks, and a support staff that continuously strives to make them even better.

      Cons

      - Explosive growth over the last few years has led to some growing pains related to communication, culture, and facilities. Fortunately the company is pretty good at identifying and tackling these issues. - Mandated crunch is rare, but there is definitely a culture of voluntary long hours. - Development tools, especially for content creators, are simply not a high priority. - The cost of living in Santa Monica / West LA is ludicrous.

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