This week, employees at League of Legends studio Riot Games became the latest developers to be hit by the unprecedented wave of layoffs sweeping across the industry. 530 people, or around 11% of Riot's total staff, have been affected by the 'necessity' of cost-cutting efforts with the aim of "honing in" on Riot's core games portfolio.
The two most apparent casualties of those layoffs are, by Riot's own admission, in its card game Legends of Runeterra, and in Riot Forge, its indie publishing arm. Founded in 2019, Forge's aim was to work with acclaimed indie developers to allow them to make single-player games that would expand the League of Legends universe. Its debut games were Hextech Mayhem, a chaotic rhythm game from the Bitrunner devs, and Ruined King, a sprawling, hugely detailed RPG that was presented alongside the story of the in-universe Ruination event.
