Melanie McCracken and Jess Negron, now-former Riot Games employees, filed the Los Angeles lawsuit in November 2018, alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and misconduct at the company. The suit was followed by two investigations led by state agencies in California. The suit was filed after the gaming news site Kotaku exposed a sexist culture at Riot Games, where female employees were asked in job interviews to be "core gamers" and "League of Legends" players. According to the article, women were turned down for not meeting those criteria sufficiently during the hiring process.
"This is a great day for the women of Riot Games and for women at all video game and tech companies who deserve a workplace free of harassment and discrimination," said Genie Harrison, the plaintiffs' counsel. "We appreciate Riot's introspection and work to become a more diverse and inclusive company since 2018."
Riot Games agreed to settle the lawsuit for $10 million in 2019, but the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) intervened, blocking the agreement with a court filing in which the agency argued that victims should be entitled to up to $400 million. Monday night, the DFEH issued a press release announcing the settlement.
The new agreement was reached with the DFEH, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), and a number of individual claimants. All current and former California employees and contractors who identify as female and worked for Riot Games between November 2014 and today are eligible for a payout. At least 2,300 employees are eligible for a portion of the $80 million settlement, with those who started earlier or worked for the company for a longer period of time receiving a larger share of the funds. Riot Games will contribute to a settlement fund, which will then be distributed to claimants if the case is approved by a court. McCracken agreed to settle the suit for an undisclosed sum. Riot Games declined to comment on whether or not certain individual plaintiffs who had entered into arbitration agreements with the company would share in the $80 million.
Riot Games also agreed to certain workplace policy reforms as part of the settlement. These include increased transparency about pay scales for job applicants, not relying on prior salary history to set employees' pay or assign job titles, and the establishment of a pipeline for current or former temp agency contractors to apply to work for Riot Games. In addition, the publisher will put in place a policy requiring the presence of a woman or a member of an underrepresented community on employment selection panels.
Five Riot Games executives addressed the settlement in an email to employees Monday night.
"We recognize that the timing of this announcement is not ideal. The agreement's final details came together quickly, and we wanted you to hear about it from us rather than read about it in the news while on break "The email, obtained by The Washington Post, read as follows.
According to the email from company leadership, the number of eligible claimants has more than doubled since Riot hired more women in recent years.
The DFEH, DLSE, and the law firm of Joseph M. Lovretovich, which also represents plaintiffs in the case, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Riot Games must be monitored by a third party for three years as part of the settlement. That party will be in charge of overseeing human resource complaints, how they are handled, and whether employees of both genders are paid fairly. Both the company and the DFEH must approve the third party, who could be an individual. If the monitor discovers that Riot Games' practices need to be improved, they can recommend changes that the judge presiding over the case, Elihu M. Berle, may impose.
While both parties have signed the agreement and filed it with the court, they are still awaiting final approval at the judge's upcoming hearing. There has yet to be a hearing date set.
The settlement includes the 2018 lawsuit but excludes a 2021 harassment and discrimination suit filed against Riot Games. Riot Games CEO Nicolas Laurent, also known as Nicolo, was sued on January 7 by a former executive assistant, Sharon O'Donnell, who accused him of misconduct and unwanted sexual advances. Riot Games has categorically denied these claims. Laurent, also known as Nicolo, was retained by the company in March after a third-party investigation commissioned by the studio revealed no evidence of wrongdoing. According to Riot Games, the case has gone to arbitration.
Riot Games wrote in a statement shared with The Washington Post, "Three years ago, Riot was at the heart of what became a reckoning in our industry." "We had to admit that, despite our best efforts, we had not always lived up to our values. We were at a crossroads as a company; we could deny the flaws in our culture, or we could apologize, correct course, and build a better Riot. We went with the latter. While we are proud of how far we've come since 2018, we must also accept responsibility for what has come before. We hope that this agreement adequately compensates those who had negative experiences at Riot."
Riot's $100 million settlement comes at a time when the video game industry is under fire for its workplace culture. Activision Blizzard, the developer of "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft," is being investigated by multiple government agencies, including the DFEH, for allegations of employee sexual misconduct and gender discrimination. Similarly, the DFEH has challenged an agreement that Activision Blizzard was attempting to finalize: a $18 million settlement with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The DFEH's challenge was recently dismissed by a federal judge.