Today for Comparably’s Culture Showdown, it’s two major California-based video game developers going head-to-head: Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment. LA-based Riot is best known for League of Legends, the company’s flagship multiplayer online battle game. Blizzard, based in Irvine, has the hugely popular Warcraft franchise. Both have their major devotees outside of company doors, but how do the actual employees of both companies feel about the people they work for? Do workers from Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment like the job their leadership is doing? Let’s take another look at what Comparably’s employee-submitted data tells us about life behind-the-scenes, this time behind closed doors at two video game titans.
OVERALL CULTURE
Employees rated Blizzard’s culure 12 points higher than competitor Riot Games. One worker says that Blizzard “puts an emphasis on culture. They encourage us to embrace and openly share our passions. The people here are generally happy and positive.” Another writes that morale is “generally high because people are passionate about working here. But a frequent complaint is not being paid fairly compared to other companies. (There is a trade off for a fun culture, team events, etc. You don’t come here to get great paycheck, you come here to enjoy your job).”
A worker from Riot Games writes that “the culture is one of feedback. The idea of only being able to fix things that they know are a problem. That said, not all departments are as open to this as they should be.” Another writes that “The culture is broken but my immediate team really goes out of their way to be an example of what good looks like – and we celebrate each others wins.” A third writes,“I’m friends with most of my team outside of work.”
CEO
Blizzard’s CEO J. Allen Brack topped ratings for Riot CEO Brandon Beck by 14 points.
About Blizzard’s Brack, one employee writes, “He is a down-to-earth, accessible man.” About leadership in general, another writes, “They make an effort to be reachable from all levels of the company. A third writes that leadership at Blizzard is“fully committed to leveling up employees, always encouraging, always supportive.
About Riot leadership, one employee writes, “Fix the bro culture. Mark and Brandon need to take ownership of the culture they created. Do what’s right, not what’s easy.” On the plus side, another worker writes ,“The leadership team apologizes openly when they’ve made a mistake and don’t couch it in excuses.”
COMPENSATION
Again, Blizzard took the prize, but this time by a small margin of 5 percentage points.
A Blizzard employee writes, “I pinch myself everyday that I get to earn what I earn. Bonuses are very motivating, as well.” Another adds,“Take home pay is on the lower end of expected pay for my position. However with profit sharing, tuition reimbursement and quality benefits, it’s not too bad.”
For Riot, an employee says that“wages for creative just aren’t as good as they claim” and that the company should “pay talent better.”
PERKS & BENEFITS
Only two points separate Blizzard’s once-again winning score – this time for compensation – from Riot’s runner-up.
From Blizzard, one employee writes, “Fit-bit intensives are great, all my glasses were paid with the health intensive.” Another worker writes that “the health benefits are reasonable, including incentives to stay healthy.” One employee also writes that the company should but does not offer an “opportunity to earn stock option rewards.”
An employee from Riot writes that the company offers “Health/dental/vision, 401k with matching, unlimited PTO, gym subsidy, free food, and a video game purchasing fund.”
GENDER
Blizzard takes the title easily for Gender, which measures female workers’ opportunities at each company.
About Riot’s culture for women, the word is dire: one employee says the culture is “toxic as hell, especially if you’re a woman.” Another says, “At the moment my team is about 20% women.”
DIVERSITY
Again, Blizzard’s employees have rated their company high, this time for Diversity. Riot’s score trailed by 14 points.
For Blizzard, an employee writes us, “We are diverse and open to more diversity. We strive to better ourselves, the company, and our customer experiences.”
From Riot, an employee says the company needs to implement“meaningul gender & diversity programs.”
