Pros
-Riot's game development teams are top notch both in talent and in culture. Almost all of them are an absolute dream: Passionate developers dedicating their lives to delivering amazing experiences to players. Caring is Riot's super power....you can match our teams up against any of the competition and I'd bet on Rioters caring the most every single time. -Riot provides an insane amount of opportunity and empowerment for an organization of its size. Systemically this causes some issues, but at an individual level if the talent and drive are there you have practically unlimited growth potential. You truly have the support to repeatedly try, fail, learn, and grow. -Gamer Culture. To outsiders of the gaming world, this conjures up visions of Grandma's Boy-a bunch of dudes playing video games all the time. The actual significance is that to most Rioters gaming isn't just something they do, it's a huge part of who they are. More than reminiscing about old games, the shared experiences connect most Rioters in a special way that directly leads to being able to empathize and make decisions for our players. We know what it's like to have friends you've never met in person. We know what it's like to stay home on a Friday night grinding a ranked ladder. We know what it's like to be disappointed when Developers deceive or fall short on their promises. That's a huge part of our secret sauce. -There are plenty of teams and offices (not just LA) that haven't lost the magic feeling of Old Riot by finding ways to shield themselves from most of the struggles. Generally, the closer you get to game development the better off you'll be.
Cons
-I have repeatedly experienced groups and senior leaders at Riot who too heavily weigh decisions based off of their desire for Riot to appear to be a AAA company, as opposed to what will be best for our players. -When a single music video takes as long to make as some AAA games and that's celebrated, there's a significant cultural problem. -The co-founders have stepped back from managing Riot and are being replaced by a Trio of very capable old school Rioters. They've all delivered at a high level for a long time, but Marc and Brandon operate at another level. We need to be honest: This is a downgrade. -Riot is suffering from corporate bloat: Most areas of Riot grew too big, and the result is a diluted talented pool as well as a lot of wasted time and money by people who can't help but create work and distractions for others, detracting from the company's mission to be player focused. -Product Riot is the name for the group of support initiatives and teams (Talent, Facilities, IT, etc.). It's a group of really smart people, but I find most of my interactions with the group to be frustrating and counter-productive. Instead of feeling like we're working together to deliver to players, I frequently feel like I have to battle bureaucracy, unnecessary process, and people who have lost track of why Riot exists and what we're here to do. Example: I've heard multiple people from Product Riot claim that Riot's mission is to be "the most diverse gaming company in the industry." Diversity is awesome, but that represents a huge misalignment with the mission most of the rest of Riot is prioritizing their efforts around. -Riot has fallen behind the market in terms of innovation. League is still the best Moba hands-down, but we are starting to feel the pain of the Innovator's Dilemma.