The first time something like this happens in the industry

May 7, 2019 15:55 GMT  ·  By

The gaming industry witnessed an event that had the not so glorious honor of being the first of its kind. Employees from Riot Games walked out of the studio in protest to protest forced arbitrations.

Back in August 2018, Kotaku did an in-depth piece about the sexists and difficult working conditions at Riot Games. The name of the studio should sound familiar because they are mostly known for League of Legends. The company is also involved in eSports, and it’s actually owned by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent.

Hard working conditions are something pretty common in the gaming industry, but it’s not a talked about subject. Basically, no one really wants to know how the sausages are made. In recent years, more and more reports have revealed a toxic and sometimes sexist problem within some studios.

Forced arbitration is the least of the problems

Riot Games is a large studio, and more than 150 employees walked out in protest to the forced arbitration. But you’re probably wondering what’s that, exactly? Following Kotaku’s report, some of the employees sued the company, but Riot Games blocked their lawsuit because they signed a clause in their contracts that says they have to go through arbitration if they have any problem with the company.

The arbitration process is controlled by the company, and the employees don’t seem to have the right to sue. So, they walked out in protest. It’s not like they can change anything, but they would bring some awareness to the problem.

It’s also worth pointing out that this is the first time this happened, although reports about problems with game studios are as old as the industry. Riot Games has yet to respond to this mess, and it looks like a branch in Dublin, Ireland, did the same thing.