Los Angeles-based Riot Games employees are preparing for a walkout this afternoon in protest of the company's stance on forced arbitration in what appears to be the first walkout at a major gaming studio. Kotaku will be reporting live from the protest as it develops.
"I'm walking out as a symbolic action to signal to leadership that I care about this issue," said one current employee. "I hope leadership takes the time to seriously listen to the issues."
Since late last year, five current and former Riot Games employees have filed lawsuits against the League of Legends publisher alleging, among other things, that Riot violated the California Equal Pay Act. The lawsuits referenced an eight-month Kotaku investigation in which dozens of current and former employees reported a culture of widespread and endemic sexism at the company, manifesting in Riot's hiring practices, promotion strategies, and wider culture.
In late April, Riot filed a motion to block two of those lawsuits, filed by current employees, from being brought in front of a jury. Riot's lawyer contends that these employees signed arbitration agreements, which waived their rights to a jury trial against the company.
After news of the motion broke, some Riot employees channeled their anger into organizing a walkout. Riot attempted to address that anger in a companywide meeting late last week. One day later, Riot announced it would give incoming employees the ability to opt out of forced arbitration for harassment suits and consider extending that option to current employees "as soon as current litigation is resolved." For many employees, that wasn't enough.
One organizer estimates that 100 employees will be participating in today's walkout, which appears to be the first in game dev history.
In an email, a Riot representative told Kotaku that the company is supporting employees walking out today. He continued, "We have asked all managers to make every accommodation to allow Rioters to participate during the 2-4pm window, including freeing up meeting times. We respect Rioters who choose to walkout today and will not tolerate retaliation of any kind as a result of participating (or not)."\
Their least-desired outcome is not feeling heard. "The worst-case scenario is that leadership does not budge from their current position and continues to maintain that there will be a 'future commitment' about current Rioters," said one walkout organizer.
A small contingent of volunteers from Game Workers Unite, a group trying to organize unions in the games industry, will be in attendance to hand out water and offer medical aid should it be necessary. A representative told Kotaku, "Our industry has seen strikes, work slowdowns, and other forms of direct action over the years, and we encourage workers in the industry to learn that history of folks standing up for themselves and their coworkers. The workers participating in the walkout at Riot today are evoking and building on a deep legacy of worker democracy and power in the tech industries." Riot employees in Dublin will be hosting their own walkout on Tuesday in solidarity.
Kotaku will be reporting from the ground at today's walkout. Check in later for updates.
Man.... for as much threads we've seen on Game Dev treatment, im shocked to see a thread wasn't made for this?.... This is a pretty big moment in regards to workers rights in the Gaming Industry and we're potentially seeing the first movements happening towards wider reform.
Huge event happening here
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