Riot Games has announced that Nicolo Laurent will step down as CEO later this year, with the current global president A. Dylan Jadeja set to succeed.
In a new letter shared yesterday (May 11), Riot Games said, “We’re proud to announce that our current global president, A. Dylan Jadeja, will become our next CEO later this year.”
Laurent has spent 14 years in leadership roles at Riot, including six as CEO, and while the transition is occurring, will continue to work at the company in the meantime in an advisory role for “years to come.”
“It’s really the personal trade-offs that have been hard and the sacrifices my wife and kids have made for my career, including all our expatriations,” said Laurent in the letter. “We’ve always been ok with this as a family, as long as we rebalance at some point. Now is that time. Especially since we miss France so much, and want to move back.”
“While this chapter is coming to a close, I don’t view this as an end — I don’t plan on joining another company or starting a new company,” he continued. “I love Riot, and I genuinely believe this is the best place in the world to make games… now more than ever.”
Jadeja first joined Riot in 2011 as chief financial officer and added chief operating officer to his role in 2014. He was then named president of Riot in 2017 when the founders transitioned to co-chair roles.
Jadeja also shared a statement in the letter explaining the transition and what he hopes to achieve as the new CEO.
“As CEO, it is fair to assume that I may do some things differently than those before me, but I want to assure you that the goal for us — together — will not waver,” Jadeja said. “And that is to make Riot, unequivocally, the most trusted and authentic game company in the world… built by players, for players. The kind of place where people know that everything they play and experience from Riot will be amazing and that everything we do is focused on making it better to be a player.”
In other gaming news, Convergence: A League of Legends Story will release later this month.