Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends: Wild Rift among other titles, shared its annual diversity and inclusion report for 2021.
The report, coming a month after the firm was fined $100 million in a gender discrimination lawsuit against women, shows both ups and downs in Riot Games' commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive company - a journey the firm announced it would share publicly three years ago.
Starting with Riot Games' underrepresented minorities in the United States, there was barely any change in the firm's representation for this group, going up by only 0.1 per cent, from 17.2 per cent in 2020 to 17.3 per cent last year.
The newly hired underrepresented minorities saw a decrease, dropping to 17.3 per cent from 19.6 per cent. The firm's leadership (director level and above) also saw a similar drop in numbers, declining from 16 per cent to 14.7 per cent.
Closing the diversity gap
On a more promising note, the numbers for Riot Games' female representation increased from 24 per cent in 2020 to 25.8 per cent in 2021 globally.
Additionally, 21 per cent of the firm's leadership are currently women. However, this is a decrease from the 29 per cent of women in Riot Games' leadership back in 2019, which can be attributed to the company updating its DEI report.
The company's new hires figure is more optimistic, with 30.4 per cent of its new hires in 2021 being women, compared to 28 per cent in the previous year. Notably, year over year, the results from Riot Games' semiannual pay equity review showed no statistically significant differences in pay for women or underrepresented minorities.
"In 2021, we continued to focus on equity and inclusion in pay and talent processes, increased recruitment efforts to attract diverse talent and expanded health benefits to further support Rioters of all backgrounds. For performance calibrations, members of Riot’s People Insights, Legal, and Talent Development teams partnered to review the outcomes in relation to gender and underrepresented minorities," explained Riot Games in the report.
"The performance calibration results are thoroughly reviewed by a multidisciplinary team dedicated to D&I to help ensure fairness and consistency in our performance management processes."
Riot Games is doing a lot more than working on its diversity and inclusion. The firm revealed back in February that it plans to expand its publishing operations in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) to include Japan and India. The gaming company also teamed up with Amazon Web Services to provide esports content.
