Earlier this month, employees at League of Legends studio Riot Games staged a walkout over the company's policy requiring that disputes with employees be settled through private arbitration rather than through lawsuits. Five current and former Riot employees filed lawsuits against the company in the wake of last year's in-depth Kotaku report into the company's deeply sexist internal culture; Riot moved to block some of those lawsuits by claiming that the employees involved had signed agreements waiving their rights to trials against the company. 

Riot pledged to accommodate employees participating in the walkout (more than 150 ultimately took part) and said that new employees would be allowed "to opt-out of mandatory arbitration for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims." But not until all active litigation—that is, the lawsuits previously filed against the company—were resolved. That left things at a bit of a stalemate, which is where it all remains, as Riot reiterated its stance in a blog post that went up today. 

"We’ve taken the time to clearly understand the range of perspectives and opinions related to our arbitration agreement, including those shared over the last three weeks. Ultimately, given the complexities of ongoing litigation, we will not change our employee agreements while in active litigation," the company wrote.   

"We know not everyone agrees with this decision, but we also know everyone does want Riot to continue to improve. We remain committed to having a firm answer around extending an opt-out to all Rioters when active litigation concludes. Everything we’ve heard will impact our discussions when we revisit arbitration and we hope to have an answer that will be satisfying to everyone. At a minimum, we will give new Rioters the option to opt out of arbitration on individual sexual harassment claims." 

Riot said that forced arbitration was only one of the factors behind the walkout, and while it won't adjust its current position on that, it is launching a new D&I [Diversity and Inclusion] Rioters Council forum, "to leverage a group of engaged, thoughtful Rioters from teams across the company to participate in formal discussions on D&I." It's also asked a "diverse" range of employees to review the company's code of conduct for areas of concern.   

"Rather than bringing the new code of conduct to Rioters as a finished product, we want representatives of Riot involved in the process, much in the way we drafted our values last year (though we’ll admit that to hit our 30 day goal on this project we’re going to be limited in who we include in this process)," it wrote.   

But walkout organizers Indu Reddy, Ronnier Blackburn, and Jocelyn Monahan aren't satisfied with Riot's response. "Conditions of current Rioters' employment around forced arbitration, including those in active litigation, are unlikely to change anytime soon. We're disappointed leadership doesn't seem to be considering any major changes to their active policy," they said in a statement send to USgamer. 

"As we continue to pressure Riot to end forced arbitration, we are leveraging that teamwork and solidarity by involving more coworkers in the effort. We are weighing the options for our next steps, and will share more information next week. As always, our main goal is to make sure that workers at Riot feel heard and represented, and above all, safe."

A report surfaced last month that Echo Fox founder Rick Fox had threatened to leave the company over an investor's use of racist language in an email sent to former Echo Fox CEO Jace Hall. The report prompted Riot Games to launch its own investigation into the allegations—Echo Fox maintains LCS [League of Legends Championship Series] and Academy [an LCS development league] teams—saying that it would "respond accordingly, based on available actions within our team agreements and the LCS Rules." 

Today Riot announced that the preliminary investigation has concluded, and it clearly did not like what it found. 

"If Echo Fox does not take action by removing any individuals whose actions violate league rules and agreements within the required time period, the League will take formal action that may adversely impact the future of Echo Fox in the LCS," a followup tweet from LCS Commissioner Chris Greeley said.

Calling for an ownership change, even if it's just the removal of one member of the investment team, is a serious line in the sand for the LCS to draw. It's also laudable. It's easy to say that there's no place for racism in esports (or anywhere else) but much more challenging to put some actual muscle behind it, especially in a high-profile matter involving a popular, successful organization like Echo Fox. The LCS may have been been vague about exactly what will happen if action isn't taken, but "may adversely impact the future of Echo Fox in the LCS" sounds like legalese for "clean up or clear out."

Despite its ominous tone (or perhaps because of it), the LCS response may actually be a boon for Echo Fox. Rick Fox said a couple weeks ago that he'll stay with the team if it cuts ties with Amit Raizada, the investor who used the slur, but the "complicated financial situation" of his investment in Echo Fox through the private equity firm Vision Venture Partners could make forcing him out a difficult process. But the LCS effectively threatening to remove Echo Fox from one of the top leagues in all of esports could prove to be a powerful motivator for other members of management.

Riot Games declined to elaborate or comment further on Greeley's statement.

Kotaku reports that employees at League of Legends developer Riot Games are preparing for a walkout this afternoon to protest the company's practice of forcing employee lawsuits into private arbitration, as well as what they consider an insufficient response to the problems which led to those lawsuits. The lawsuits came in the wake of last year's in-depth Kotaku report which exposed pervasive sexism at the studio.

Not all employees are going to take part in the walkout: One organizer told the site that they expect roughly 100 employees will go, a small fraction of the studio's estimated 2,500 employees worldwide. But it's still a significant number, and could encourage more employees (and those at other studios) to take part in future actions if their complaints go unresolved.

While not the first organized walkout at a major studio—there was a strike at Eugen last year, and Crytek developers walked out in 2014 to protest unpaid wages—the Riot walkout is one of very few high-profile cases of game industry employees taking direct action to be heard.

A Riot rep said that the studio will do its best to accommodate the walkout, apparently scheduled from 2-4 pm local time, and "will not tolerate retaliation of any kind as a result of participating (or not)." But it also reaffirmed that it will not change its policies "while in active litigation." 

"As soon as active litigation is resolved, we will give all new Rioters the choice to opt-out of mandatory arbitration for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. At that time, we will also commit to have a firm answer on potentially expanding the scope and extending this opt-out to all Rioters," the rep said. "We are working diligently to resolve all active litigation so that we can quickly take steps toward a solution." 

Kotaku will be reporting from the scene of the walkout, so follow along there for updates as it happens.

Update: Upcomer has posted a trio of photos taken at the walkout on Twitter.