UPDATE 01.23: A Rise up Games spokesperson told Eurogamer that today’s layoffs will affect 32 workers. 27 roles were reduced in the League of Legends pool, plus five additional roles in publishing. “Troublemakers who were fired will have the ability to use our internal job board to apply for any open positions company-wide,” the spokesperson added.
ORIGINAL STORY 9:29 p.m.: League of Legends developer Rise up Games has announced that it will be laying off an unspecified group of employees in the studio’s second round of process cuts as the start of this past.
Rise Up began in 2024 by laying off 530 employees in a move it insisted was a “necessity,” announcing that its costs had “grown to the point that they are unsustainable… [leaving] There is no room for experimentation or failure.” Ten months later, on the other hand, and the studio says its unprecedented round of process cuts “is not about reducing staff to save money, but rather making sure we have the adequate experience for League to continue to be great for another 15 years and more.”
“While team effectiveness is more important than team size,” Rise up co-founder Marc Merrill wrote in an observation shared on social media, “the League team will eventually be even bigger than it is.” today as we develop the next phase of the League. For Rioters who are laid off, we support them with a severance package that includes a six-month minimum salary, annual bonus, job placement assistance, medical coverage and more.”
Even though Rise up has seen three rounds of layoffs since the start of 2023 (the studio has also announced 46 process cuts in the past), Merrill attempted to reassure League of Legends enthusiasts in his statement, announcing: “I want to be clear “We’re not going to slow down work on the game you love. We’re investing heavily in solving today’s challenges faster while building for the future.”
Eurogamer has contacted Rise up for more information, including the group of workers suffering from today’s layoffs, and we will update the story if more is shared.
Recent news continues with a disastrous 2024 for the video game industry, with around 13,000 industry employees having lost their jobs since the beginning of the past, and that’s on top of the 13,500 employees laid off in 2023. So why What do these layoffs occur? event? GamesIndustry.biz’s Chris Dring shared his thoughts in the past.
