In the wake of the gender-discrimination and sexual-harassment scandal that has plagued Riot Games for the past year — which last month resulted in the suspension of COO Scott Gelb for apparently becoming the physical embodiment of the phrase “It’s just a prank, bro” — the studio has announced that it has formulated an updated version of its company values. The new and improved values, which are expounded upon in length on the studio’s site, focus more on Riot’s general goals than on tackling its toxic corporate culture specifically, with such platitudes as “player experience first,” “thrive together,” and “stay hungry; stay humble.”
According to the updated manifesto, Riot decided that a revamp of the company’s values was necessary because the original manifesto, written in 2012, “didn’t evolve along with [the company].” As part of this evolutionary process, the company says it “cocreated [its new] values with more than 1,700 Rioters globally” by asking those employees what they wanted the company to be “to deliver on [its] promise to players.” The manifesto promises to “institutionalize these values throughout Riot, so they become a part of every Rioter’s daily reality.” However, gamers might find it difficult to be particularly sanguine about the prospect in light of the way things have been playing out so far. After all, it’s not exactly the first time we’ve heard this particular song.
