Despite a major walkout nearly two weeks ago, Riot Games have released a statement indicating that they will not budge on the protest’s key issue of removing forced arbitration in legal situations.
“Ultimately, given the complexities of ongoing litigation, we will not change our employee agreements while in active litigation,” The statement said. “We know not everyone agrees with this decision, but we also know everyone does want Riot to continue to improve. We remain committed to having a firm answer around extending an opt-out to all Rioters when active litigation concludes.”
“At a minimum, we will give new Rioters the option to opt out of arbitration on individual sexual harassment claims,” The statement continued, in contrast to the company’s previous position that an opt-out was not available on the subject.
The statement goes on to detail that the studio will a make a new Diversity and Inclusion Council forum, where to create ‘a group of engaged, thoughtful Rioters from teams across the company to participate in formal discussions’. Furthermore, it states that diverse staff have been invited to help review the Code of Conduct ‘though we’ll admit that to hit our 30 day goal on this project we’re going to be limited in who we include in this process’.
Riot’s statement in its entirety can be read here.