Riot hasn't done a great job scaling, and a lot of how it does business comes from tribal customs and values from when the company was a lot smaller. Some of these values get skewed and weaponized in unsavory ways. You'll hear that the company has a feedback culture, but that often means the loudest voices are seen as the bravest or the most passionate. Being data-informed means that sometimes people in leadership roles ignore facts and rely on gut feelings instead, sometimes swayed by those loud voices. This gets exacerbated by the fact that many early, junior Rioters get promoted into leadership positions, because Rioters conflate people management with prestige. A layer of inexperienced managers has led to the company having a high school-like culture where the personal and professional get mixed up too often. Career opportunities vary greatly across departments, and sometimes opportunities that are great for the company get derailed because they are great for the department or team.
These criticisms can get ignored or reasoned away because of the overwhelming success of the company, and instead Rioters will hear that anyone who disagrees either wasn't a "culture fit" or couldn't "align" with the company or couldn't hack it at Riot. It's hard to gauge how detrimental these factors are, because many Rioters seem happy (or comfortable) with how things are. What sucks is that there's a Riot inside the current company that could be everything it wants to be. It could be kicking down doors and shaking things up, but first it needs to have a serious conversation about some of its problems.
