Riot Games
Riot Games Employee Reviews
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Gaming Company with Gaming Culture
Admin (Former Employee) – New York, NY – August 10, 2018
The company is trying to include more minorities and more women but it skews heavily male.
Employees are expected to give 110% but playtime is also encouraged.
Interview/hiring process is long and intensive.
Most enjoyable part of the job is working with dedicated, smart employees who are passionate about delivering the best.
Employees are expected to give 110% but playtime is also encouraged.
Interview/hiring process is long and intensive.
Most enjoyable part of the job is working with dedicated, smart employees who are passionate about delivering the best.
Pros
Great benefits, lots of perks, beautiful campus, smart and competent coworkers.
Cons
Lack of women in management roles.
A wonderful environment, but don't get too comfortable
Specialist IT Engineer (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – July 19, 2018
Riot Games tries to create a laid back business culture, where colleagues can build trust and speak frankly with one another. With people acting like friends and playing games every day, it can be easy to forget that you're at work.
Never forget that you are at work. There are supposed to be metrics and improvement plans to help employees meet and exceed expectations, but not all teams have that in place. If there's a perception that you're not delivering enough widgets, prepare for unceremonious termination.
Never forget that you are at work. There are supposed to be metrics and improvement plans to help employees meet and exceed expectations, but not all teams have that in place. If there's a perception that you're not delivering enough widgets, prepare for unceremonious termination.
Pros
All your needs are taken care of, the people are great
Cons
Pressure to stay in the office, for all hours.
If you're passionate about games its good, if you like having a life and being compensated for your skills, not so much
Sr. Quality Assurance Engineer (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – April 30, 2018
I took a pay cut to join Riot games, and while I enjoyed the experience overall, now that im more senior in my career, looking back there were faults.
Compensation is horrible, especially within QA.
Leadership is promoted beyond their skills and cannot properly mentor their reports
you have to be a cliquey kiss up to succeed in this company
Compensation is horrible, especially within QA.
Leadership is promoted beyond their skills and cannot properly mentor their reports
you have to be a cliquey kiss up to succeed in this company
Pros
beer at meetings, subsidized dinners, good peers
Cons
horribad compensation, long work hours, cliquish people, leaders caught in scam
Manager
Manager (Current Employee) – Santa Monica, CA – April 17, 2018
The people make this organization work -- not the leadership, not the broken processes (where they exist). It is the relationships that drive decisions and enable the company to do what it can. The interview process is a fair representation of what it's like to work there -- if you enjoy that process, you'll love working there. If you dislike it, then no amount of money will make the work experience better.
Cult
Accounts Payable Specialist (Former Employee) – Santa Monica, CA – February 5, 2018
Yeah it was great at first......
The place is a cult, and I could not see until the ride was over.
The company culture is lazy and sluggish. They have one product since they stole someone else's hit game.
The place is a cult, and I could not see until the ride was over.
The company culture is lazy and sluggish. They have one product since they stole someone else's hit game.
Pros
Free Lunch
Cons
Work life balance is non existent
A company I loved and admired, but riddled with management woes
Software Engineer (Current Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – November 15, 2017
I honestly loved the advertised culture, but Riot has changed a lot in the past couple years. There is very little room to advance, and in general, the company doesn't seem to have a solid vision or strategy for where it wants to be in the next year or two. I feel that many of the leaders don't know how to enact policy or really help the organization evolve positively. I mentioned that Riot has changed a lot, but it hasn't been due to the leaders making the engineering organization better; it feels more like a slow erosion, where they try to maintain a status quo and often stifle any rumblings of change.
Pros
Lunch and dinner are fully subsidized for now, "Unlimited" PTO, Shared Success Plan
Cons
Limited growth opportunities, difficult to affect change, leaders preach a culture of feedback, but rarely display any effort to change.
Very fun place to work
Accountant (Current Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – October 30, 2017
Riot Games by far is the best company to work for. Unlimited PTO, 401k matching. They also have a great work life balance. The only negative regarding Riot Games, is there is no room for advancement. Riot tends to hire from outside rather then promote from within. Therefore you can find yourself stuck in one position for a long time.
Pros
Free lunches, unlimited PTO, Holiday vactions
Cons
No advancement
Fast-paced, continuously evolving environment
Facilities (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – September 15, 2017
I loved coming to work and every challenging project that was given to the team. I learned a spectrum of skills from creating PO's for finance, creating guidebooks, workplace safety and guidelines, security, IT, Leadership skills, construction, and so much more. Management for my department specifically has never had a "safe" environment and felt like a shark tank. The team members pulled together to exceed expectations of the services we provided and we managed to achieve successful operations without the guidance of Leadership or Direct Managers. The hardest part about the job is that any problem or challenge can arise with no moments notice and may involve time sensitivity or impacting situations. The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to create relationships throughout Riot in turn teaching and learning new things everyday.
Pros
Free Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Arcade, electronics perks, great benefits. Meeting life long friends you can depend on.
Cons
Management is very unstable. No advancement opportunities for the hard working people at the bottom.
Unproductive place to go to stagnate
Project Coordinator (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – June 26, 2017
There is no room for growth here. If you're hired, you probably won't be doing what you applied for. Management is a "boy's club" and a joke. Not challenging, if you try to do more or improve and make changes to a poor process, you're pretty quickly shown the door.
Pros
Free food?
Cons
Political, toxic mess
Great place to grow
Live Broadcast Technical Director (Current Employee) – Santa Monica, CA – May 14, 2017
A great place to work for a hungry individual not just because they offer free lunch and dinner at their cafeteria, but also when it comes to growth in the company and as an individual. The culture is rich and fun.
Great gamer culture with growing pains
Facilities Assistant (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – March 15, 2017
The Facilities department has some Job Security/Advancement issues, however the workplace culture throughout the company is phenomenal. Facilities in particular does have a rather poor work/life balance, however it also tends to be extremely satisfying within that team as they have an extremely amazing camaraderie. Benefits are extremely competitive, compensation could use some work. Management is growing and adapting constantly. But ultimately this place is heaven on earth for any gamer looking for a place to have a career.
Pros
Free lunch and dinner, PC Bang + Arcade, Nap rooms, beautiful campus
Cons
Occasional political feuds, growing pains, feeling guilty about having to leave the office at the end of the day
@Riot
Senior Illustrator/Concept (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – January 18, 2017
A great place to work and live. Don't forget we have a campus and we are all in High-school again, staying up late playing games and working on what we are passionate about.
Pros
Free food and $300 Gamefunds a year!
Cons
weight gain and less sleep
Very Fun Place To Be
Security Officer (Current Employee) – Santa Monica, CA – September 5, 2016
My primary function as Security Officer At Riot Is creating a visible deterrence For prevention of crime,customer service assist with the functions of physical and personal security and safety measures for clients and the general public, protect property from theft or damage. Other duties include access control, crowd control, list management,emergency response, searching, law, policy, and regulation enforcement.
Pros
Free Lunch
Cons
Bad Managment
Productive and Fun Work Place
Staff Accountant (Contractor) (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – July 1, 2016
Riot Games Inc. has a very unique culture. This is a company definitely where everyone wants to be. I enjoyed my time as a contractor in Riot Games.
Pros
Free lunch and dinner
Cons
Job Expectation
A great place to grow and learn
Associate Manager - Merchandise (Former Employee) – Los Angeles, CA – November 22, 2015
Is a fast paced environment that encourages exploration and values the input of all members on the team.
The team is willing to take risks given proper thought has been given before launching a new initiative.
The team will not continue down paths that are no longer viable and will pivot to new opportunities quickly.
The team is willing to take risks given proper thought has been given before launching a new initiative.
The team will not continue down paths that are no longer viable and will pivot to new opportunities quickly.
Productive and unique working enviroment
Transcriber, gaffer, grip and PA (Former Employee) – Santa Monica – July 15, 2015
Riot Games was by far my favorite job that I have had the pleasure of obtaining. My co workers were just the best people on earth. They were super knowledgeable in their fields of expertise and really helped me feel welcomed. The management was very easy to get used to and had no problems doing the tasks they asked for. The best part of the job was going on location and filming at Blur Studios. Got to see and work hands on with a lot of professional equipment. Best company to work for and their endless amounts of cereals made each day a whole lot sweeter.
Pros
very hands on, great enviroment
Cons
Na
Exciting workplace with a gamer culture and a lot to prove!
Software Engineering Intern (Former Employee) – Santa Monica, CA – October 27, 2014
I learned how to build an API using Node.js; my project felt awesome, because even as an intern, my work was impactful and I knew that someday, my feature would ship to a live environment.
Management is an interesting beast. As a software engineer, there's a few people at play that you have to be cognizant of. Development manager, which deals with developer relations and how productive a team can work. Engineering managers, which are technically "the boss" of a specific team and/or function, and "product managers", who drive the priorities and the workflow of the products of teams in play. The problem here is that even if the dev and the product manager likes you, if the engineering manager has a reason not to, you're out. There's nothing you can do to change that.
Lesson learned? It doesn't matter who else you please, if your direct (engineering) manager doesn't like you, you're boned - good luck ever working there again.
Co-workers were awesome - most of them were pretty young, but the odd time you'll encounter a "dinosaur" - someone who's been around for a few years and knows the tech stack like it's their own child (probably because they built it, heh!). The open office environment really lends itself to a greater sphere of influence and learning, since anyone around you can give you good feedback, and give you the tools you need to succeed.
The hardest part of the job was really focusing on specific priorities - sometimes, a lot of work can come up, and you need to understand where to draw the line, and how exactly to ensure that you stay on top of your work more... obligations whilst not going insane in the process.
The most enjoyable part of my day, though, was taking a break at random times during the day to play a game of League of Legends. Being a part of a gamer culture is definitely what makes Riot such a great company to be a part of. less
Management is an interesting beast. As a software engineer, there's a few people at play that you have to be cognizant of. Development manager, which deals with developer relations and how productive a team can work. Engineering managers, which are technically "the boss" of a specific team and/or function, and "product managers", who drive the priorities and the workflow of the products of teams in play. The problem here is that even if the dev and the product manager likes you, if the engineering manager has a reason not to, you're out. There's nothing you can do to change that.
Lesson learned? It doesn't matter who else you please, if your direct (engineering) manager doesn't like you, you're boned - good luck ever working there again.
Co-workers were awesome - most of them were pretty young, but the odd time you'll encounter a "dinosaur" - someone who's been around for a few years and knows the tech stack like it's their own child (probably because they built it, heh!). The open office environment really lends itself to a greater sphere of influence and learning, since anyone around you can give you good feedback, and give you the tools you need to succeed.
The hardest part of the job was really focusing on specific priorities - sometimes, a lot of work can come up, and you need to understand where to draw the line, and how exactly to ensure that you stay on top of your work more... obligations whilst not going insane in the process.
The most enjoyable part of my day, though, was taking a break at random times during the day to play a game of League of Legends. Being a part of a gamer culture is definitely what makes Riot such a great company to be a part of. less
Pros
$10 off dinner if you stay late, game at work (breaktime!), gamer culture/atmosphere
Cons
work/life balance can be a challenge
Powerhouse game developer, clinging to an outdated "start-up" mentality
Analyst (Current Employee) – Santa Monica, CA – August 29, 2014
Riot Games is second to none. Benefits and work environment are the best in the industry, but like everywhere else in game development, monetary compensation lags severely behind the enterprise software development companies. Perks like unlimited PTO, company-wide vacations and a semi-annual hack-a-thon make Riot an amazing place to work, but with meteoric growth comes problems of astronomical scale.
Riot was built by entrepreneurs, and still clings to that "we're a startup company, playing loose and cowboy with the rules in order to get the product out the door" which worked in 2009 when Riot had startup numbers of employees, and players still thought that League of Legends was just another Warcraft3 mod. Now, with over 1200 employees worldwide, that procedureless, startup mentality is starting to bite Riot. Cadenced deployment, something that enterprise software and many other game companies perform without a hitch as a basic process of development, is still a rather frenetic and error-fraught process, as developers, artists and designers check content directly into the production pipeline at the eleventh hour, causing the teams responsible for deploying the latest patch worldwide no end of headache, and the appearance of reinventing the wheel every two weeks.
That being said, the individual Rioters are nothing short of extraordinary. While people make mistakes all the time, there are very few who respond to problems with "that's not MY job to fix" and walk away. Sure anyone capable of checking in assets to source control should know how to do that properly, but when an more... artist dumps new work to the beta environment on accident, they're usually the first ones to step up to help fix the issue. less
Riot was built by entrepreneurs, and still clings to that "we're a startup company, playing loose and cowboy with the rules in order to get the product out the door" which worked in 2009 when Riot had startup numbers of employees, and players still thought that League of Legends was just another Warcraft3 mod. Now, with over 1200 employees worldwide, that procedureless, startup mentality is starting to bite Riot. Cadenced deployment, something that enterprise software and many other game companies perform without a hitch as a basic process of development, is still a rather frenetic and error-fraught process, as developers, artists and designers check content directly into the production pipeline at the eleventh hour, causing the teams responsible for deploying the latest patch worldwide no end of headache, and the appearance of reinventing the wheel every two weeks.
That being said, the individual Rioters are nothing short of extraordinary. While people make mistakes all the time, there are very few who respond to problems with "that's not MY job to fix" and walk away. Sure anyone capable of checking in assets to source control should know how to do that properly, but when an more... artist dumps new work to the beta environment on accident, they're usually the first ones to step up to help fix the issue. less
Pros
Unlimited PTO, excellent insurance of all types, great interpersonal environment
Cons
Virtually processless workflow, constantly shifting technologies, lack of communication.
Very passionate owners with a strong vision.
Associate Producer/Intern - PC Game (Former Employee) – Culver City, CA. – July 26, 2013
I directed the way characters would move in the game. Did some level and character design as well as help outsource assets with the producer. Hardest part about the job was my personal school schedule. The easiest was creatively collaborating with the design team.
Work was easy, but little communication between the client and our office
Custom Support Agent (Former Employee) – Austin, TX – January 21, 2013
It was okay, the people were nice. We did not know what was going on many times with the game, and little communication between the Austin and LA Offices. So it was hard to give players definitive answers to their questions. Quite frustrating and stressful at times.
Pros
fun work environment
Cons
little communication, more just "beating around the bush"
Overall rating
Based on 26 reviews
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Diversity score
The Comparably Diversity Score tracks how positively diverse employees rate their experience at Riot Games.
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