One of the world's biggest game studios has been hit with multiple allegations of fostering a hostile, sexist work environment

Riot Games

• The maker of the enormously popular game "League of Legends," Riot Games, is a massive game studio with thousands of employees.
• Riot is alleged to have fostered a sexist, hostile work environment.
• "The frequency and intensity of inappropriate behavior in the workplace had become a concern not long after I arrived," former Riot manager Barry Hawkins wrote in a lengthy piece this week.
• Hawkins left Riot Games in early 2014 due to ongoing concerns with the culture at the studio, and the feeling that pushing back imperiled his job stability.

One of the biggest game studios in the world, Riot Games, is facing ongoing accusations of fostering a culture of sexism and hostility.

Starting with a months-long investigative report published at Kotaku in early August which outlined a "bro culture" at the Los Angeles-based company, new accusations surfaced in a piece published this week on the personal blog of a former employee.

"There were two predominant flavors of behavior," former Riot Games director of product management Barry Hawkins wrote in a piece titled, "The Story of Why I Left Riot Games," published on his blog this week. "One was the use of sexual references and gestures by straight men toward other straight men, and the other was the sexist and inappropriate language about women."

In his piece, Hawkins details his experience working at Riot Games - from August 2012 to February 2014 - as one repeatedly characterized by sexism. Worse, his attempts to push back against that culture were met with enough resistance that he ended up leaving the company. "I concluded that I was not going to be able to effectively impact the issues with the culture at Riot" he wrote, "And my first significant attempt at raising concerns had put my job in jeopardy."

Glassdoor

A piece published on Kotaku in early August detailed the experiences of over two dozen current and former Riot Games employees offered a similarly grim assessment of the culture at Riot Games.

"They just didn't respect women," one former employee named Lacy said.

Several people speaking to Kotaku described instances of sexual harassment from management, ongoing struggles to hire women, and casual sexism in conversation with co-workers. Hawkins echoed these accusations in his piece, and claimed that the issues with Riot's culture go all the way to the top.

Hawkins said that, during an offsite work event for all Riot Games hiring managers held in 2013, Riot Games CEO Brandon Beck made a joke about rape as part of a speech:

"They shared an example of how one candidate did not take an offer initially, but because we persevered and followed up, they eventually did take our offer. At the end of that example, Brandon laughed and said, 'I was about to say something.' He paused, and then went on to say, 'No doesn't necessarily mean no.'"

More than just a joke during the speech, the anecdote ended up enshrined in a PowerPoint slide deck. It was this that eventually led to Hawkins leaving Riot Games, he said - in an email followup, Hawkins said he politely confronted the Riot Games CEO, which led to a series of meetings that eventually persuaded him to leave. He currently works for Hulu as director of technical program management.

Riot Games denies the allegations from Kotaku's piece, and has yet to respond to a request for comment regarding Hawkins' account.