Riot Games Reviews

Cons

Different teams can give very different experiences.
Not given a ton of direction, need to be very self-guided.
Has grown very fast recently, and sometimes left some teams and structures disorganized.

Cons

For anyone who has been in Riot read the class-action lawsuit knows almost every single thing called out in the Kotaku article and the lawsuit are legitimate and real. Although I personally got frustrated more than I would have liked (I tend to be headstrong), my performance reviews were solid and I was never told that there may be issues with my position. Then, out of the blue I was laid off.

However, it wasn't even the being let go without explanation that hurt the most. It was the being mistreated at every step along the way. Seriously no one could tell me for over 6 months WHO my manager was. They told me I was not a "strategic thinker" even though they knew nothing about why I advocated for the changes I did. They completely disregarded a woman who left in my dept who called sexism when she and I were both overlooked for a position that was then given to a man who had 2.5 years of experience (when we both had over 10 years of experience). They refused to answer why he was given this role when he clearly had far less experience than both she and I.

They then ignored that this man then went on a power trip and would not prioritize any of my work (despite having PROOF that my efforts were in fact paying significant dividends).

That man then disinvited me to meetings that I should have been apart of and made decisions about me that didn't actually involve me. He wouldn't respond to communications and questions from me that he knew I need to be successful in my role but he had no problem communicating with the men in the dept. He would then claim he just forgot to mention it (when it significantly would affect how I worked with the team). He forced me to work on things that they knew were outside my skill set just to get confirmation biases that I wasn't good and needed help (they then admitted to me that they had done that).

They labeled me "not a big enough gamer" even though I played more LoL than anyone in my department. They told me they were open to finding me a better role and then 3 separate times got started and then shot down the ideas. My then "supposed manager" took nearly 2 hours of blabbing rather than admitting I was being let go. I had to ask him why we were talking for 2 hours with no clear sign about what the conversation was about and had to ask him "are you trying to let me go" in which he then responded "that is what they asked me to do". WHO IS THEY? He wouldn't answer.

That man then put his arm around me and tried to coddle me as though I was a child. Being a woman does NOT make me weak and his insinuation that I needed to be hugged is outrageous. Some may misconstrue that as highly inappropriate although I know that was not his intention.

Finally, Riot built up a case against me. They only talked to 3 people I rarely worked with any they knew I had contention with, rathering the speaking to the 12 people I worked most closely with to get feedback.

I loved Riot with all my heart when I started. It was (I thought) the best company I had ever worked for. I just didn't realize (until after I was let go) that their behavior was NOT related to me, it was related to the fact that I was a woman. I spoke with 6 other woman in the office who mentioned very similar/same behavior that happened to them. What a shame when something you love so much, becomes the biggest nightmare you can imagine. I hope no one ever has to go through that again.

Cons

Long hours
Occasional travel required
Limited room for promotion

Cons

Bro culture
Talent (HR) / Riot doesn't protect against retaliation / harassment
COO w confirmed harassment gets 2 months w/o pay
Very difficult to get salary increase / promotion. You work the title for a year first, with no actual path for promotion.
Company promotes silence after harassment expose

Cons

executives take no responsibility, what a toxic company

Cons

Riot grew really large really fast and is having to deal with the consequences of success. This can lead to some breakdowns in structure and communication that may have worked at 300 employees but does not scale to 3,000.

Cons

Open floor plan allows for many interruptions.

Cons

Different teams, equals very different experiences.
Lack of clear communication about expectations.

Cons

As part of Riot's "feedback culture", you are expected to call out things that are wrong. So you do, over and over and over, until tiredness runs through your very marrow. The trick is, no one is actually expected to do anything about it.

- Yes, there is some very ingrained sexism.
- Management is a mess, training is completely inconsistent. I had some very amazing managers and some very poor ones.
- Career paths and levels are sketchily defined in most disciplines. Programming and art are the exception. Disclipline leadership is aware but nothing was fixed over multiple years.
- Leadership interference and absurdly high standards make shipping R&D projects far more difficult than it should be
- West LA traffic

Cons

Absolutely zero integrity when it comes to consistent management of people. The promise of cultural change has been mostly lip service to check a few boxes. Many senior leaders call the Kotaku article "blown out of proportion" or "just a case of a few bad managers." I assure you this is not the case but no one wants to admit the problem is in their house. Discussions of how people are feeling have been all but squelched by a "no rumor milling, no discussions of the lawsuit" gag order instituted by the CEO. Hilariously the studio decided a 2 month holiday vacation was the appropriate response to a COO who has made many feel excluded, uncomfortable and harassed. The takeaway? As long as you perform well in your role it doesn't matter how you treated Rioters 4 years ago. Not acceptable. Our new heros are people who write up a set of fluffy meaningless values. Seriously Riot? We deserve better than cheesy lines like "dream big" and "thrive together." The trainings that have been rolled out in order to get at our cultural issues have been massive wastes of time which have led to zero change in the day to day experience of working at the studio. It is sad to see such a great studio turn to this.