Riot Games Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over Gender Discrimination

Riot Games has settled the class action lawsuit in principle for gender discrimination, according to a new statement from the Riot Walkout group.“Settling this class action is a victory for women in games,” a representative from Riot Walkout said in a statement today. “We believe that the policy changes Riot agreed to make will continue the progress toward equality that we’ve made over the last year.”

An explosive investigation by Kotaku uncovered widespread discrimination and harassment at Riot Games. Following the report, a class action lawsuit was filed against the developer accusing it of gender-based discrimination and violating the California Equal Pay Act.

“While this settlement helps bring peace of mind to women at Riot, we want to acknowledge that issues of discrimination and harassment go beyond gender, and acknowledge the victims who aren’t covered in the suit.”

The lawsuit alleged that, “like many of Riot Games’ female employees, Plaintiffs have been denied equal pay and found their careers stifled because they are women,” the suit alleged.

“Moreover, Plaintiffs have also seen their working conditions negatively impacted because of the ongoing sexual harassment, misconduct, and bias which predominate the sexually-hostile working environment of Riot Games.”

In a new blog post, Riot Games confirmed the settlement, but say that gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation “are not systemic issues at Riot.”

“But, what we also learned during this process was that some Rioters have had experiences that did not live up to our values or culture. In addition, we’ve encountered considerable fatigue among Rioters, who have been drained by constant engagement with the internal and external dialogues emerging from these lawsuits and recurring media cycles.”

Riot Games says that while it believes it had a strong case for litigation, the company says that “in the long run, doing what is best for both Riot and Rioters was our ideal outcome. Therefore, rather than entrench ourselves and continue to litigate,” Riot chose a settlement as the best path forward.

The details of the settlement have not been disclosed, but the Riot Walkout group, which staged a massive employee walkout in May of this year to protest Riot’s forced arbitration clause, said “This settlement is an important step on the journey of making the games industry a more diverse and welcoming place,” but that the fight is not over. The settlement is now awaiting the court to approve the proposed settlement.

“Making Riot – and the entire industry – more inclusive is an ongoing process, and we are excited to see this big step in the right direction.”

Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.