Riot Games as a company and its co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill have each donated $500,000 to various organizations battling the coronavirus outbreak, LA major Eric Garcetti confirmed Tuesday.
The total sum of $1.5M will be split between the Los Angeles Food Bank ($400,000), the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles ($200,000) and various non-profits in the LA Arena ($900,000).
“On top of that financial contribution, Riot Games is working to secure critical personal equipment for LA’s hospitals, like much-needed masks to protect our front-line doctors and nurses,” Garcetti added.
Esports and gaming companies and personalities have been very active in their aiding of coronavirus relief efforts. In League of Legends specifically, several pro teams and players have donated a good share of money to the cause, including:
- Faker — $25,000
- Bdd — $4,000
- DragonX and Chovy — $16,800
As for Riot Games, their charitable act comes in a time when they are in need of improving their public image. The company is still embroiled in a gender discrimination lawsuit, that could potentially cost them nine figures in settlements. After in 2018 Kotaku broke a story about the culture of sexism in Riot Games, the League of Legends developer has been under PR and legal fire. In December 2019, Riot were about to close a $10M settlement with roughly 1,000 victims, but in January 2020 the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing objected to the deal, saying the payout should be around $400M instead. In February 2020, the plaintiffs’ new counsel rejected the $10M settlement.
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