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submitted 10 months ago by simple@lemm.ee to c/games@lemmy.world

TLDR: Riot is downscaling. The severance package is great but it's another round of layoffs in the industry.

This will also majorly affect Legends of Runeterra. They're putting the game on life support it seems, and will focus on the PvE mode.

They're also shutting down Riot Forge, their collaboration with other studios to make smaller games with their IP.

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[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 128 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Riot is a trash company.

I feel for the employees who lost their jobs.

Its always grating when CEOs say they "take responsibility" but they're not taking a demotion and paycut. No, somehow, the idiots who made the shitty decisions get to keep making them. Apparently that's "responsibility."

[-] trash@lemm.ee 58 points 10 months ago

I was laid off from my small warehouse job because the company wasn't making enough money. The next month my boss took his family on an African safari. Eat the rich.

[-] echo64@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

These layoffs are always for shareholders as share prices go up when the layoffs happen. It's not about cash flow. It's purely about shareholders.

Share prices go up always affects c suite the most. They get better returns on the shares they own and also get large bonuses. Far from take responsibility, a ceo massively profits from layoffs.

[-] Cybersteel@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

I don't think there will ever be any CEO that takes a pay cut over doing layoffs.

[-] Pheonixdown@lemm.ee 19 points 10 months ago

Satoru Iwata and the Wii U is the single instance I can think of.

[-] keyez@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

I remember reading in 2020 the CEOs of Toyota and Columbia sportswear both reduced their salary so they wouldn't immediately have to lay people off like most companies were doing.

[-] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 10 months ago

Iirc the Nintendo cceos did so they wouldn't have to fire people a handful of years ago. Not sure how often that happens though.

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[-] Thrickles@lemm.ee 82 points 10 months ago

So basically...

  • CEO claims responsibility.
  • Employees face the consequences.

That tracks.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

Yeah it's weird how the C-suites never have to personally bear responsibility despite being the one either making these decisions or fostering the environment in which these decisions are made.

How come companies are allowed to fire even one employee before the decision makers are bled of all money they have? Shouldn't the life-ruining start with the ones who are responsible?!

[-] cucumber_sandwich@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I guess the reasoning is

The company is doing great => the CEO does a great job

Company needs to downsize=> can't afford a change in leadership in these trying times

It gets more complicated when the CEO is also a founder/owner

[-] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago

I would be happy if they just didn't get their bonuses and the downsizing started with their pays ale before anyone got fired. Of we can't have that, think of their poor third yachts.

[-] Abnorc@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

I could be wrong here, but the CEO is at the mercy of the board as well in many situations. If they could just manage the company well without pressure to make decisions that benefit the shareholders more than the company itself, you would see more good CEOs.

Since they're basically pressured into ruining companies a lot of the time, the only reasonable way to hire people is to offer them good severance packages and incentives to do so. If you really held them responsible, no one in their right mind would do it.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

But doesn't that just move the same point?

Why is the board not held accountable for fostering the atmosphere via pressure on the CEO then? So the buck ultimately passes to them, they had every chance to rectify the situation, including replacing the C-suites if they don't think the current ones are fit for the job?

I know, they just think of the shareholders and their pockets, but that's my point: If you get money when your decisions make the company more profitable, maybe your decisions should lose you money when they do the opposite.
And specifically, I mean long-term. Not just based on share-price. You meddled with the company. If it tanks, you held X% of their money for Y% of the time, that's how much you're in the hole for now as your decisions were ultimately responsible for that percentage of the total decision space cash the company ever had in its time.

Plus, I don't think that excuses CEOs from having 0 integrity. Yeah they could get voted to be replaced, but that doesn't excuse it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as an analogy, soldiers are supposed to refuse inhuman orders, no? Just that the board tells them to ruin 1900 people's lives doesn't mean they get a clean bill for the moral implications of being the one to pull the trigger on that.
Pluuuuuuus... isn't it the CEO who would make the decision to take a company private again? So they could always reverse course if they mind the shareholders meddling too much?

[-] Abnorc@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Neither CEOs nor Boards are less accountable IMO. That just explains why they behave the way that they do. In a better world, there'd be incentives for those in power to do the right thing, but it just doesn't play out that way much of the time. It's probably because it's hard to design those incentives well in the first place while simultaneously preventing bad actors from ruining it.

[-] BudgieMania@kbin.social 43 points 10 months ago

I just hope that these companies don't have the gall to complain about a lack of manpower or expertise availability a few years down the line. Because by coordinating all these layoffs, they are currently creating a vacuum in which a lot of professionals in the industry won't have any chance to acquire experience and develop their skills, and many will probably have to change their career trajectory significantly just to ensure their economic well-being. And once they see how greener the grass is outside the videogame industry, let me assure you, they won't be coming back.

If you are not willing to stick with your professionals through your thin, you don't deserve their availability and effort through your thick.

[-] maness300@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

don’t have the gall to complain about a lack of manpower or expertise availability a few years down the line.

Don't worry, they will.

Companies aren't like people with friends who hold them accountable for lying.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

these companies don’t have the gall to complain about a lack of manpower or expertise availability a few years down the line

Of course they will. It's all driven by investor money and C-suite bonuses, the rest of managed just bends over and pulls down their pants. If the investors think gaming is hot, everyone will desperately hire. If they are meh on it, everyone shuts down.

You might think this sounds like an unhealthy company model to let investors run everything like that. And you might be right! But we also created a system where the people making these decisions are monetarily involved with the investors, not opposed to them. Hence what hte investors say goes.

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[-] trackcharlie@lemmynsfw.com 41 points 10 months ago

I don't take any company seriously that expects their customer base to willingly allow ring zero access.

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago

literally a rootkit bruh

Not even the linux wine hackers feel like removing the DRM just to play the game. They'd rather spend that time on an actual needed software like photoshop.

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago

Yep. I'm glad I quit playing LoL a long time ago, when it stopped being fun and everything got typecast to very specific roles. I used to be able to do great in any position there was as teemo. Fun times.

[-] ombremad@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 10 months ago

The severance package is great

It always baffles me to think that there is no minimum mandatory severance pay in the good old US of A, but considering 6 months of salary is "great" is saying even more about how low the bar is.

[-] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Yeah, in most of Europe, 6 months would be bare minimum on top of whatever else the employee’s contract buyout requires. But since the good ol US of A is at-will and doesn’t have employment contracts, employers can just let you go without any notice or severance package.

[-] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I got far less than that from my severance package last year, I got the minimum mandatory amount, but I'm not in USA.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 14 points 10 months ago

My friend works here and is not getting their contract renewed. Luckily they knew it wasn't getting renewed but it still sucks. They've loved working there.

[-] simple@lemm.ee 7 points 10 months ago

6 months severance isn't half bad though, I hope they can find another job they'll love within that time.

[-] test113@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

If I'm interpreting the CEOs Post post correctly, the severance package is only applicable if your contract gets canceled prematurely or if you are being laid off. If your contract ends and is not renewed, all obligations are fulfilled, so there is no severance package since the contract simply ends. (Timel/Project based contract). I could be wrong though. It would make sense to have project or time-based contracts - these layoffs mainly affect the "permanent employees."

[-] simple@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago

Ah, that would suck then.

By the way, your account is tagged as a bot account which means anyone that has bots hidden won't see your comments. Should probably change that.

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[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 10 months ago

Their contract wasn't ended as far as I know and would've been ending in about a month or so anyways.

[-] citrusface@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

Disappointing to hear they are giving up on runeterra

[-] yamanii@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

This isn't about shareholders, but it just so happens that the share price always goes up after a round of layoffs :)

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

And nothing of value was lost.

Sucks for the employees, though. I feel for them.

[-] ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 10 months ago

My friend got "downscaled" today. Real dick move.

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[-] De_Narm@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

I'm not playing League, I stopped many years ago. But I liked the lore and am sad to see them shut down further collaborations - they made some nice games.

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[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

In the tech industry, I've always enjoyed watching what those laid-off employees end up moving onto. While most find jobs elsewhere, you occasionally see some employees form new startups, or try something different with what they've learned from their big tech job.

I'd love to see a resource that follows up on people that were laid off from X company, and to see what their offshoots are working on themselves, supporting them where possible.

[-] echo64@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

I’ve always enjoyed watching what those laid-off employees end up moving onto.

almost all of the people currently being laid off in tech end up leaving the industry or being unemployed. there are no jobs, and there are massive waves of layoffs everywhere.

[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Have you got a source on that?

Some industries in tech are hit extremely hard (i.e. recruitment), but as someone that has spent the last year helping those laid off from Amazon to find roles internally and externally, that's definitely not true in software engineering.

[-] echo64@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

are you trying to suggest that of the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people laid off in the last year in tech, they all found new jobs super easy?

i'm seeing people be unemployed for 6> months, endlessly interviewing for hundreds of jobs that honestly don't even exist, just listed.

[-] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 10 months ago

Anecdotally, I'm in IT and had a brutal time finding a new job. Took nearly 250 applications over 6 months to find something, hated it (65-70 hour weeks without breaks), and applied to another hundred before finding something worthwhile. I'm no newbie - I've got over a decade of sysad experience under my belt.

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this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
198 points (97.6% liked)

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