Riot Games posts update on internal efforts to improve company culture

Published November 7, 2018 9:00 AM, by Charles Singletary Jr

After it was revealed to the public that a lawsuit has been set in motion, Riot Games has confirmed that they're investigating the allegations.

Here's an official statement from Riot Games, sent after we reported on the gender discrimination lawsuit coming from current and former employees:

“While we do not discuss the details of ongoing litigation, we can say that we take every allegation of this nature seriously and investigate them thoroughly. “

- Joe Hixson, Corporate Communications at Riot Games

Three months ago, a lengthy report detailed sexist practices at Riot Games and the studio responded by acknowledging issues and laying out the initial plan for overhauling office culture. The plan included elements like building a team dedicated to this initiative, opening up to third-party evaluation, and doubling down on training. Since then, the company has unveiled a more detailed roadmap of how Riot Game's culture will evolve. Including the roadmap set through the rest of 2018 and all of 2019, there are specific workstreams for this evolution:

Evolving Riot's Values

• Revamping our vision for Riot’s mission, vision, and manifesto. As part of this work, we’ll ask every Rioter to help define the values that will support, propel, and uphold our culture.
  • Revisioning of cultural values
  • Injecting these values across Riot in 2019 and beyond

Objective Assessments & Objective Measures

• To change, and track that change, we must first understand where we went wrong. The assessment work aims to better understand our current climate and identify opportunities for improvement.
  • Specific and achievable opportunities that move us towards the culture we want to have
  • Key performance indicators (KPIs) and a performance scorecard to measure our progress

Rioter Education & Training

• In addition to broader cultural work, we’re developing a curriculum to help level Rioters up individually. Some examples of what we’re requiring or offering are:
  • Classes that support our ability to build trust and respect with one another
  • Classes that introduce behaviors that create a more inclusive environment
  • Classes that cover good interviewing practices, which include awareness and challenging personal biases
  • Facilitated opportunities to engage in thoughtful discussions, activities, and sessions with Frances Frei
  • Additional training will be added to the 2019 calendar based on our cultural assessment

Riot Games is teaming up with renowned leadership and strategy expert Frances Frei to accomplish these goals, but will have to continue forward with the cloud of this lawsuit, and any ramifications from it, looming over the team. Stay tuned to Shacknews for additional updates.