author: Zuzanna Domeradzka
Riot Games Fired Artist, After a Few Hours Outsourcing Company Approached Him With Offer to Make Skins for LoL
A concept graphic artist received a job offer to create skins for League of Legends from an outsourcing company after being fired by Riot Games. He claims this is part of the „unethical business practices” of large corporations.
Riot Games, the American studio behind the hugely popular online game League of Legends, experienced significant layoffs in January of this year. At that time, over 500 people lost their jobs, which constituted about 11% of the entire team. One such employee was a graphic designer responsible for creating conceptual designs for new character skins in LoL. He recently told a surprising story about his dismissal.
Unexpected Riot's move
The graphic designer, known as wyrmforge, replied on X to a meme asking about the most absurd situation in the history of his work as a "freelancer." He confessed that a few hours after he was fired from Riot Games, he received an offer from an outsourcing company to design skins for League of Legends for a pre-agreed fee (lump sum).
It's not hard to guess that it was the American studio that instructed to inform the graphic designer about the offer, as they didn't want to employ him on the same terms as before the restructuring. wyrmforge didn't accept this proposal, however:
- he guessed that under the new contract his scope of work would be limited - he would earn less money than when he was employed at Riot Games, but nevertheless the rate offered by the outsourcing company was higher than for any other job he undertook later;
- the graphic designer felt offended by this turn of events because it made him realize that Riot Games considers him a worthless workforce, doesn't value his work and cares only about profit.
"Unethical business practices"
Interestingly, wyrmforge doesn'tt blame either the outsourcing company that contacted him, nor Riot. He believes that such practices - paying a lower rate for practically the same work after terminating a contract - are part of a "larger system that is rubbish."
My wish with posting this honestly isn't that people get mad at riot or anything. I don't think this behavior's unique [for them] and that's the shitty part. I guess, I just hope more consumers keep up to date on who makes the stuff they like, and get vocal about unethical business practices.
The whole situation emphasizes the issue of treating employees almost like objects by large companies (not just in the gaming industry) and their emphasis on revenue. Wyrmforge argues that underestimating the work of employees is merely a small aspect of the "enormous waste" linked to widespread layoffs, which also involves, for instance, the suffering of those who lose their jobs.
The current bad situation in the industry was recently commented on by, among others: Swen Vincke, CEO of Larian Studios responsible for the warmly received Baldur's Gate 3. It must be admitted that his words about the greed of publishers, which "f***s this whole thing up for so long," fit all too well with the described case of Riot.
