14 minutes ago
With the awakening of social activism through social media ramping up in recent years, a lot of behaviors and workplace conditions have been put under the spotlight and scrutinized in ways like never before. Many of your favorite companies have also come under fire for certain allegations related to behavior deemed uncouth. Riot Games was one of the recent companies to have the spotlight shone on its workplace conduct, and the results caused a lot of chatter within the gaming industry. Instead of shirking the reports, Riot embraced them and decided to apologize to its fans and the employees that work there.
Over on the official Riot Games website, there's a post under the "Who We Are" tab that talks about the apology issued by the company, where it starts off by saying that Riot has been listening to feedback regarding allegations that it fostered a culture of sexism and misogyny. In the post, the company stated...
We're sorry. We're sorry that Riot hasn't always been---or wasn't---the place we promised you. And we're sorry it took so long for us to hear you. In the days, weeks, months, years to come, we're going to make Riot a place we can all be proud of.
The post goes through a lengthy apology aimed at the contractors, freelancers, former, and current staff working at Riot Games, stating that the company is sorry that it took so long to hear staff, and that it will work harder to be a place that they can "all be proud of."
It also ventures to apologize to the fans for letting them down, and to the people who were eyeing a potential career at Riot. It notes that the company will strive to change to "fight for what's right."
Riot plans on expanding its culture with a D&I initiative, and will attempt to work on cultural inclusion. The company will also revisit cultural definitions such as "gamer" and "meritocracy". According to the post, if the words are "misused" then the company won't use them.
Riot also hired in two third-party consultant agencies to help provide expertise on rebuilding Riot Games' culture, including aiming to become a leader in diversity, inclusion, and culture. This includes overhauling the investigation process to regain trust from the community and its employees, as well as implementing new training programs, and re-evaluating recruiting procedures.
The company is making this change in response to an article that was published on Kotaku that alleged that discrimination and sexism had taken place within Riot Games.
The company is renown for creating one of the world's most played video games, League of Legends. The MOBA title came out way back in 2009, and continues to be one of the biggest fan-favorite games today.
In the apology post by Riot Games, there is no mention of League of Legends or Mechs vs Minions, as the main focus of the apology was on how the corporate culture will change in light of the allegations that were made public in early August. Let's hope the company is serious about making improvements soon.