Yesterday rioters received some terrible news, as Riot Games announced they were laying off 11% of their workforce. The majority of rioters became aware of that through social media, not knowing if they were impacted or not, and waiting for an email that would decide their fate.
Riot Games employees from all around the globe were affected, by what was yet another restructuring from a tech giant, following Amazon who also slashed their workforce recently.
But what does this mean for Valorant, and how will the game be impacted? Let's find that out right now.
Valorant is still a priority
According to Riot Games, after these unfortunate changes, the company is back to "putting games at the center of everything we do". They reaffirmed the commitment to their core titles, with Valorant being one of them.
So title updates and new content such as characters, game modes, and new events are something players can continue to expect.
Most players won't feel any changes after these layoffs, since the "teams outside of core development" were the most impacted ones. Furthermore, Legends of Runeterra and Riot Forge were the most impacted titles by these changes.
That doesn't mean these changes won't be felt in Valorant, as they impacted incredibly talented people who were let go and worked on the game. Even if it's more on the design part, players will still feel these changes.
However, the esports side was quite affected by these changes, so let's take a look into it.
Valorant esports takes yet another hit
It hasn't been a good off-season for the Valorant community, at least for those who love the esports scene.
Not only were we made aware that Tier 2 isn't supposed to be sustainable, at least according to Leo Faria, the Global Head of Valorant Esports, but the terrible 2025 esports calendar was also announced and sparked outrage from the community.
Now, several people involved in the Valorant esports production have been laid off, which means the esports product will take a hit. If the broadcast quality decreases that could lead to a significant drop in viewership, which will affect the fans, teams, and players.
The Valorant esports scene has taken another hit, hopefully, it just isn't as bad as it seems. However, with all the things mentioned above, 2024 is set up to be a hard year for the Valorant esports scene and its community.
I just hope all the incredibly talented people who lost their jobs in the blink of an eye can get back on their feet as fast as possible.
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