After a wave of scandals, Riot Games will launch its own ethics committee

The creator of League of Legends continues to fight for the reputation of an open company that stands for equal rights. In response to the sensational history of partnership with the city of Neom, Riot Games reviewed internal processes and launched the ethics committee and the council on transactions.

This was announced by the head of Riot Games, Dylan Jadeja, during a corporate teleconference. According to him, the new divisions will help the company to become more transparent and will not allow a repetition of situations like the one that recently happened with Neom.

Recall that at the end of last month, Riot Games named the city of Neom from Saudi Arabia as the sponsor of the summer season of the European league League of Legends. But the gaming community reacted violently to the event and accused the American company of supporting the “bloody regime”.

From the point of view of most fans, no socially responsible organization should cooperate with a State in which human rights are violated. The players recalled that Neon is being built on the land of the Huwaitat tribe and local authorities are killing members of the tribe in order to create a city of the future. In addition, Saudi Arabia executes women for homosexuality and oppresses them.

Riot Games hastened to cancel the contract with Neom and terminated the deal two days after the conclusion. The company announced that it was too carried away by the idea of an esports ecosystem, and therefore the partnership with Neom “moved too fast.” She also added that this should not happen again.

The creation of an ethics committee and a deal council is precisely designed to fulfill the promise of Riot Games.

The Transaction Council will formalize and improve the system of evaluation of agreements. It will include Senior Vice President Mark Sottosanti, Head of Corporate and Commercial Development Brian Cho, Karma’s Social Impact Department and global teams on esports, law, diversity and engagement.

But the ethics committee will be able not only to evaluate transactions and influence them, but also to raise the question of the company’s development: is it moving in the right direction? Who will be on the committee is not specified yet.

But whether these measures will restore the fans’ trust remains open.

This is not the first scandal with the creator of League of Legends. Two years ago, employees complained massively about the company and accused it of harassment. Riot Games infringed on the rights of women who worked in the studio: denied career growth, paid salaries lower than male colleagues and encouraged sexual harassment. Among other things, the company forbade the victims to go to court. After a long time, Riot Games nevertheless revised the policy of concluding employment contracts.

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• Riot Games sued for sexual discriminationHundreds of Riot Games employees went on strike against their own studio
• Riot Games bought the authors of the Hytale RPG sandbox
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