Riot Games to finally compensate 1,548 women for Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

Riot Games to finally compensate 1,548 women for Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

After years of lawsuits, settlements and more, Riot Games has announced that they are to compensate 1,548 former and current female employees at Riot Games and Activision-Blizzard. This comes in lieu of the historic and infamous lawsuits claiming unequal pay, sexual harassment and other misconduct the company conducted against these women employees.

How we got Here

For a recap on the events surrounding this historic settlement and payout, it’s good to go back to 2018: After Kotaku broke the case wide open on the depths of the sexual misconduct and pay issues at Riot Games, two employees opted to open a case against the company over this misconduct and discrimination.

The case against the company came at a time when another gaming company was facing a similar lawsuit: Activision-Blizzard settled their own gender discrimination lawsuit back in 2021. But like the Riot Games lawsuit, the one against Activision-Blizzard has opened the eyes of many to what really goes on behind the scenes.

The Pricetag

As a result of losing these lawsuits Riot Games will have to pay upwards of $100 million to the 1,548 plaintiffs with the money to be split between them, with plaintiffs being able to claim upwards of $40,000 for damages as well as different options for employees that were either part-time or full-time at the company.

This is a huge deal for a variety of reasons. Both cases of gender discrimination have revealed some of the inner workings of gaming companies and the industry as a whole. Both the Riot Games and Activision-Blizzard cases have brought up some difficult questions some others in the industry might have to answer for in the coming years.

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