According to Shannon Liao of The Washington Post, Riot Games have settled a 2018 gender-based discrimination class-action suit with both the state of California as well as current and former female employees. The company will pay $80 million to members of the class-action suit and approximately $20 million toward plaintiffs’ legal fees totaling a combined $100 million payout. At least 2,300 works are eligible for financial compensation.
The lawsuit started after Kotaku posted an expose back in 2018 which noted several instances of sexism by current and former employees at Riot Games.
As part of the settlement, Riot Games and the state of California agreed that their Human Resources department would be monitored by a third-party for the next three years. This party will oversee all complaints filed to HR and monitor how they are handled by Riot Games. This organization has to be approved by both Riot Games and DFEH.
Riot Games sent the following statement to The Washington Post:
“Three years ago, Riot was at the heart of what became a reckoning in our industry. We had to face the fact that despite our best intentions, we hadn’t always lived up to our values. As a company we stood at a crossroads; we could deny the shortcomings of our culture, or we could apologize, correct course, and build a better Riot. We chose the latter. … While we’re proud of how far we’ve come since 2018, we must also take responsibility for the past. We hope that this settlement properly acknowledges those who had negative experiences at Riot.”
Many gamers have taken to the internet to pronounce their pleasure for the settlement with many hoping that Activision Blizzard are next.
