League Of Legends Dev To Pay $10 Million To Settle Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

Riot Games, the massive game developer behind League of Legends, will pay $10 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit. The news was revealed in court documents filed on Monday and first reported on by The Los Angeles Times.

Every one of the approximately 1,000 female employees who worked at Riot from November 2014 until the settlement is complete will get a share of the $10 million pool. Divided equally, it would work out to $10,000 each, but that won't be how it works. The Times reports that the payouts will depend on the length of their employment and their status as full-time versus contractor. The settlement was first announced in August, though this is the first time we're hearing about the monetary terms.

"We're pleased to have a proposed settlement to fully resolve the class action lawsuit," a spokesperson for Riot said. "The settlement is another important step forward, and demonstrates our commitment to living up to our values and to making Riot an inclusive environment for the industry's best talent."

Riot and the plaintiffs who brought forward the class-action lawsuit have agreed to the terms, but a judge still needs to finalize and approve the deal before payments go out. Other terms of the settlement are unknown.

An August 2018 expose from Kotaku's Cecilia D'Anastasio contained numerous serious and dramatic accusations about the "bro culture" within Riot. Among the details was that managers were said to have had lists where they ranked women by attractiveness.

In August this year, when the settlement was first announced, Riot maintained that it doesn't have systemic issues related to gender discrimination, though it did acknowledge that the workplace environment was less than ideal.

"After extensively reviewing these issues, we can confidently state that gender discrimination (in pay or promotion), sexual harassment, and retaliation are not systemic issues at Riot," the company said. "But, what we also learned during this process was that some Rioters have had experiences that did not live up to our values or culture. In addition, we've encountered considerable fatigue among Rioters, who have been drained by constant engagement with the internal and external dialogues emerging from these lawsuits and recurring media cycles."

The new settlement filing includes language that speaks to Riot's commitment to bettering its internal company culture. According to the Times, this includes improving programs for sexual harassment reporting and discrimination. New measures have also been undertaken for hiring, pay, and promotion practices. Additionally, Riot has hired a chief diversity officer and launched new internal employee committees to measure Riot's progress on these fronts.

Riot is owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent. The free-to-play MOBA reportedly brings in billions of dollars in revenue every year.