Riot Games settles women’s discrimination case for $100 million

League of Legends developer Riot Games settles for $100 million with California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing. That is the outcome of a 2018 case about discrimination against women within the company.

The case started in late 2018 after Kotaku published an article about the “culture of sexism” within Riot Games. Before that, the Kotaku spoke to dozens of employees who saw Riot as a place where women were treated unfairly and where the corporate culture disadvantaged female employees. Two now former employees filed a lawsuit against Riot Games in November 2018, accusing the developer of gender discrimination, sexual harassment and misconduct.

In 2019, Riot Games wanted to settle the case for $10 million, the Washington Post writes, but the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing then intervened and blocked that settlement. According to the agency, the victims would be eligible for 400 million dollars.

Both Riot Games and the agency have reached a substantive agreement on a settlement. $80 million will go to class-action case participants and women Riot Games employees who have been employed there since 2014. More than 2300 employees are eligible for a payout. Riot Games will pay the remaining $20 million to cover the plaintiffs’ legal costs. The settlement still has to be finally approved by the judge.

Part of the settlement is that Riot Games will have a third party audit for three years how employee complaints are handled and whether employees of all genders are treated and paid fairly. If that party sees points for improvement, Riot can be forced through the courts to implement those improvements.

Riot also promises in the settlement to adjust certain rules in the workplace. For example, the developer says it is more transparent about pay scales for applicants. In addition, a woman or someone from an underrepresented group must be present on all panels that elect new candidates.

With the settlement, as far as Riot and the DFEH are concerned, the 2018 discrimination case is dismissed, but that does not apply to a discrimination and harassment case filed in early 2021 against Riot Games CEO Nicolas Laurent. That case is still ongoing. No evidence of wrongdoing was found, according to research commissioned by a third party from Riot.

The government agency that negotiated the settlement with Riot Games is also currently investigating the practices at Activision-Blizzard. Several US government agencies have their eyes on the publisher of games such as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The publisher has been sued in California for grossly discriminatory and sexually transgressive behavior.

Character from League of Legends