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Riot Games began an investigation regarding numerous gender discrimination claims against its CEO Nicolo Laurent. The League of Legends developer received the lawsuit on January 7th. Former Riot Games executive assistant Sharon O'Donnell claims wrongful termination and several other issues in the lawsuits. Riot Games finds itself embroiled once more in a sticky gender discrimination case.
Rumbling in the Rift
Unfortunately, Riot faced similar gender discrimination claims in the past. The numerous cases levied against Riot Games effectively tarnished the esports giant's prestige. Thankfully, the company holds even its highest leaders accountable for their actions.
Sharon O'Donnell claims that the company (under the watch of Nicolo Laurent) frequently made her work free overtime and that she received inappropriate comments and unwelcome sexual advancements from co-workers. Joe Hixson, Riot spokesperson, expressed his company's commitment towards a thorough investigation into the claims. The important thing to note from Riot's statement is that an external investigatory body is handling the case due to the involvement of one of the company's senior members.
“In this case, because some of the claims relate to an executive leader, a special committee of our Board of Directors is overseeing the investigation, which is being conducted by an outside law firm.”
Hixson refuted the claim of the alleged case of wrongful termination. Riot terminated Sharon O'Donnell in July 2020.
“The plaintiff was dismissed from the company over seven months ago based on multiple well-documented complaints from a variety of people. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
Public opinion on Riot Games shifted when news of alleged cases of gender discrimination came out in 2018. Unfortunately, the game developer faces an uphill battle with its current case. The new case sheds light on the often overlooked darker side of video game development. Undoubtedly, no video game or esports title is worth severe cases of gender discrimination.
Riot Games will continue past this case but hopefully, they will be held accountable for any misdeeds.
