It’s not at all uncommon for senior staff to take holiday vacations in the USA, nor is it uncommon for whole studios in Europe to close down for a summer break, but you seldom see the latter here. Riot Games, however, will be the exception, as it’s announced it’ll close down the studio – which is already working remotely – for a week.
“This has been a big year for Riot for a lot of reasons,” the company says. “Putting the ‘s’ in Riot Games was perhaps our proudest moment as a company so far, but tending to so many new games is a delicate balance. Add COVID-19, working from home, and everything else going on in the world, and it can be hard to separate the ‘work’ and ‘life’ pieces of the work-life equation. As game developers, we’re all hyper aware of the effects of crunch and project-based deadlines. We owe it to ourselves and to you to prioritize our health as a team (well, many teams) so we can bring you new experiences long into the future. ”
So far, there hasn’t been a dramatic change to the games’ cadence. Valorant’s patch will be delayed only two days, and Runeterra’s 1.7 is already live with the continuing Spirit Blossom festival. And as for League of Legends, “this means 10.16 will last twice as long as a normal patch and we’ll be skipping patch 10.17.”
