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Riot Games faces gender discrimination class action

Riot Games faces gender discrimination class action

Employees past and present from League of Legends maker Riot Games are suing studio over its working culture.

That's according to Kotaku, which reports that one current and one ex-employee have filed a class action lawsuit against the developer due to what is described as a male-dominated workplace.

The duo are demanding compensation in the form of damages and unpaid wages, in addition to further penalties.

“Like many of Riot Games’ female employees, Plaintiffs have been denied equal pay and found their careers stifled because they are women," the lawsuit said.

"Moreover, Plaintiffs have also seen their working conditions negatively impacted because of the ongoing sexual harassment, misconduct, and bias which predominate the sexually-hostile working environment of Riot Games.”

This follows an explosive report that exposed a toxic working environment three months ago.

Riot Games has not refuted the allegations, saying that work needs to be done. The firm has outlined a roadmap for these changes, hiring Frances Frei to help fix its working culture having previously done the same for Uber.

In a statement to Kotaku, Riot Games said: “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. We remain committed to a deep and comprehensive evolution of our culture to ensure Riot is a place where all Rioters thrive.”


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.