Employees of Riot Games, makers of popular online battle video game League of Legends, staged a mass walkout on Monday to protest against the company’s handling of lawsuits brought against it alleging workplace sexism and misconduct. It is the largest such walkout in video game industry history.
Around 150 workers at Riot’s Los Angeles headquarters participated in the protest, according to a report by video games website Kotaku, which also broke allegations of a sexist and often hostile work environment from dozens of employees in an investigation last year. They were protesting against Riot’s policy of forced arbitration, which strong-arms employees into company-led negotiations in the event of lawsuits, removing the right to a jury or judge-led verdict. Google recently ended forced arbitration entirely in response to protests involving 20,000 employees.
Five employees or former employees are currently bringing lawsuits against Riot Games over workplace harassment, discrimination and violating California’s Equal Pay Act. A Riot Games spokesperson said the company will end forced arbitration for new, incoming employees once the current suits are resolved, but participants in the walkout view this – as well as the company’s response to the underlying issues that the lawsuits have raised – as inadequate. One protester was photographed with a sign reading: “I reported and he got promoted.”
Happy to stand alongside my colleagues today for the #RiotWalkout. It's time for Riot to realize that sexual harassment won't stand, senior leadership shouldn't be protected, and forced arbitration (which btw disproportionately affects women and minorities) isn't okay.
— Bret Forbus (@RiotAshekandi) May 6, 2019
Today myself and several of my co-workers are standing up for what is right, just, and fair in regards to Forced Arbitration and Sexual Harassment. Its 2019, and forcing anyone to sit in a room with the company/person who did this and "talk it out" is unacceptable. #riotwalkout
— Mel Capperino-Garcia (@Riotswimbananas) May 6, 2019
Protests and walkouts are rare in the video games industry despite a pervasive culture of overwork – known as “crunch” – that often leaves workers complaining of burnout, frequent mass layoffs at major studios and growing outrage over executives’ high pay. A recent push for unionisation of the video games industry, led by Game Workers Unite, aims to address this problem alongside the workplace homogeneity that can make game development a disproportionately hostile environment for women and minorities.
Further action is planned after 16 May, the date of the next big company meeting, one organiser told Kotaku. In response to last year’s reports of workplace sexism, Riot Games issued a long apology and laid out a plan to end discrimination and improve its company culture. In March, the company hired Angela Roseboro, former head of diversity and inclusion at Dropbox, to lead its efforts.
