A judicial procedure had been launched in 2018 after the revelation of discrimination and facts of sexual harassment against women working for the studio.
Le Monde
The video game development studio Riot Games announced, Monday, December 27 , that he had accepted an agreement in the context of a group action brought against the company, accused of allowing discrimination and the facts of sexual harassment against his employees. Nearly 1,065 employees and 1,300 women who worked for Riot Games as providers are involved in this decision.
This agreement, approved by A state agency of California to investigate business on civil law , the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), must still be validated in the NEXT MONTHS, by a court. However, it is a major step in one of the broadest cases of discrimination and sexual harassment in the video game industry.
This file broke out in 2018, as a result of the publication, by the specialized Kotaku site, an investigation into working conditions within this development studio, known for League of Legends, the One of the most popular online games in the world. The article revealed many facts of sexual harassment as well as discrimination against employees or service providers. The investigation pushed two employees to go to court and launch a group action against the company.
In 2019, Riot Games had found, with several employees, an agreement that included the payment of $ 10 million for former employees and providers who wished. This proposal, found to be insufficient, had been blocked by the DFEH and another Californian agency, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE).
A hinge moment
The new agreement, made public Monday, will force Riot Games to pay at least $ 80 million (including $ 4 million of fine) to women who have worked for the company since November 6, 2014. The studio will also have to Fund an external audit of its wage, managerial practices and its management of human resources, as well as recruiting full-time forty women who have previously worked for the company as providers. “We hope that this agreement brings recognition to those who have had a bad experience within Riot and demonstrates our desire to show the example by showing responsibility and equality in the video game industry”, reacted the company in a statement .
This decision occurs while major studios in the video game industry have, in recent years, have been accused of closing their eyes on sexual harassment and discrimination, or even covered with the facts and sanctioned women who spoke. In 2021, it was Activision Blizzard, one of the largest groups in the industry, which ended up under the fire of the criticism, since the deposit, in July, a complaint by the DFEH, after two years. survey, detailing systemic discrimination and cases of sexual harassment. On October 19, the company announced the dismissal of about twenty people after an investigation, but Activision Blizzard is still targeted by several judicial proceedings.