League of Legends CEO Steps Down for Personal Reasons – Replacement Announced
Nicolo Laurent, CEO of Riot Games, Steps Down
Nicolo Laurent, CEO of League of Legends developer Riot Games, is stepping down. The current president of Riot, A. Dylan Jadeja, will replace Laurent as CEO at some point later this year. Laurent will remain at Riot in an advisory role “for years to come.”
Personal Reasons for Stepping Down
In a letter, Laurent explained that he has been considering stepping down for some time to spend more time with his family. “It’s really the personal trade-offs that have been tough, and the sacrifices my wife and kids have had to make for my career, including all our moves,” said Laurent. “We’ve always been okay with it as a family as long as we rebalance at some point. Now is the time. Especially because we miss France so much and want to move back.”
New CEO and Future Plans
Riot said that the search for a new CEO lasted about three years, with “a lot of incredible candidates” considered, but ultimately Jadeja received a unanimous vote. “As we start our next chapter today, I’m more excited about our future than I have ever been,” said Jadeja.
Jadeja believes that Riot’s success will depend on its ability to strengthen its creative heart while remaining committed to its mission for players, no matter how difficult the environment or situation. “As CEO, it’s fair to assume that I can do some things differently than those before me, but I want to assure you that our goal – together – will not waver,” he added.
Previous Controversies
In 2018, Kotaku published an exhaustive report describing an alleged “culture of sexism” at Riot Games. Three months after Riot was hit with a class-action lawsuit for gender discrimination, which included far-reaching allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct, one of which was directed at Laurent himself. Riot later published a blog post explaining how it planned to address these complaints and later hired a crisis management law firm to investigate the reports. However, the lawsuit was inconclusive and no action was taken.
