Riot Games reviews

4.0

75% would recommend to a friend

(1,043 total reviews)
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Dylan Jadeja

68% approve of CEO

54% positive business outlook

Riot Games has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 1,043 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Riot Games employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Médias et communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
5.0
Jan 11, 2018

An amazing place to work

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This place has an outrageous amount of wonderful people. Sure, there are always exceptions to the rule (and some pretty extreme ones), but overall I have never felt treated with as much respect and felt as valued as I do at Riot Games. Empathy is everywhere. I was on the fence between 4 and 5 stars, but this tips me over. People here are really passionate about the product. Work-life balance is outstanding. There are few barriers to getting things done despite our size, i.e. bureaucracy hasn't caught up with us yet and that's great.

Cons

Primarily, I would say the biggest problem is that Riot simply doesn't pay well. While the gaming industry is apparently this way as a whole, the reality is that we are competing for talent against the Bay Area when it comes to engineering, PM roles, etc., and banks and consultancies on the business functions side, and our compensation rates make this extremely difficult. Beyond that, the one issue I come across is that people in different teams and parts of the org are now actually quite unaligned on our core values. Not because we disagree with them, but because the interpretation is fluid and on a spectrum. We need better definitions for them.

4.0
Jan 11, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Ultimate flexibility: As a young professional, many of my peers at other companies tell me they are "putting in their time," showing up at 9, clocking out at 5, just to be seen by someone important. They complete projects quickly but spend time at the office primarily to signal to managers that they're "working hard." At Riot that's just not the case. No one cares when you get here and when you leave, as long as your following through on your commitments. Unlimited PTO, WFH as needed and zero micromanaging even for coordinators/associates. You're trusted and expected to figure out how to manage your time effectively; no one is going to tell you what to do and how/when to do it. Results are what matter. Being yourself: I hear this a lot from other Rioters: “Riot is the first workplace where I could really be myself." Riot is full of gamers who hid their passion at work before joining Riot; they’re the ex-MtG pros or DOTA streamers who’ve never been able to have a serious conversation with coworkers about their gaming without it being laughed at or belittled. At Riot, we play League and all types of games both at work and after work. We believe that understanding what’s going on in our industry, studying other games and then actually becoming players of them helps us do better work. Focus on Talent: Riot is a place where you have frequent conversations with managers and mentors about what you want to be working on, what you’re passionate about, what skills you want to grow in, what you can get better at and how your role helps you get closer to those things. While value to players and to Riot is an important component when deciding what team//projects/products someone works on, Riot takes extra care to make sure people are working on things that they’re excited about whenever they can. Instead of being told what you’re working on and what team you’re joining, you get to be a part of those discussions and push back when things don’t feel right. In the long term, I think this leads to people being happier at Riot and sticking around longer. I myself have worked on 6 different teams in a little under 5 years in 3 distinct roles. I didn't have to leave Riot to grow, explore my other interests and try something new. Perks: Riot definitely takes care of Rioters! Health benefits are amazing, there's subsidized lunch daily (and dinner if you’re working late!), an on-campus cafe for your afternoon latte, endless access to LaCroix, onsite yoga classes and massage services to name a few of my favorites. Seriously couldn’t ask for anything more.

Cons

Founded in 2006, I very much consider Riot to be in its early adolescence as a company: not quite one of the big game-making machines but definitely not a small indie studio either. With that, there are some big benefits, some of which I mention above: we’re often coming up with processes as we need them instead of following nonsensical, bureaucratic methods the company’s relied on forever. Teams also get the flexibility to pivot on product decisions if we have the data to back it up rather than having to stick to some 5 year plan laid out by executives who don’t really get it. That being said, our leadership teams and internal processes are also in their adolescence and aren’t quite ready to support the making of big, difficult decisions we need to make increasingly often. Calls are sometimes made by someone important without clear reasoning as to why they were made, or decisions are made only after a super long deliberation periods with countless other leaders from around the company. “The way things get done at Riot” is something to be understood over time, not absorbed by reading a handbook. And even once you understand it after years of observation, the answer is rarely simple or static. The process through which an idea turns into a product is incredibly unclear as is the process through which a team spins down and reallocates Rioters. If you like the structure, clarity and security that larger companies provide, Riot will be a painful place to work.

5.0
Jan 9, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I have been working at Riot Games São Paulo Office for more than one year as a Rioter (it is a fact that I used to be a contractor for more than 2 and a half years for Recruiting). I was inspired by a review from another Rioters and I share his opinion so I will start with his statement: "I'm not sure how to break this down into a simple list of pros and cons. Everything about Riot is dual-edged and requires consistent grounding to maintain realistic perspectives. If I could summarize, Rioters are given great power. "And with great power comes great responsibility.""" - Flexible work hours ("We are worried if you are and can deliver, not in how are you going to do it"); - You are expected to be the best at what you do, that raises the bar for you and the team; - Great office structure and localization; - Very nice perks and swags; - Awesome special events (massage, afternoon coffee break, team outings for team building, Riot Rumble!); - Play LOL during the day; - Horizontal Structure, from an intern to the CEO, everyone have access to everyone, the is no politics in therms of with whom I can relate and talk; - Open feedback (from Global Surveys to special classes that help us consolidate and grow a true open/actionable feedback culture)!

Cons

Please do not see these all as negative points of the experience but maybe some that are challenging for people that work here. - Misuse of the Riot's Manifesto, sometime you can engage with people that use the Manifesto in a wrong way, either prioritizing their opinion above the players needs or stating something as an unbreakable truth. - Bro-culture, I believe there is still this bad legacy from a subject (games) that in the past we had a majority of man as main audience and public. IMO this had changed and we need to eliminate behaviors that are complacent to a Bro-culture. - Work-pace, I sometimes struggle with the pace on making decisions and "making the well spin". I think this is regarding a fear of risk taking or complacency...

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