League of Legends publisher Riot Games said that it will invest $10 million in founders who are underrepresented minorities and women in the video game community.
And through Riot Games’ Social Impact Fund, the company will commit $1 million in contributions to The Innocence Project and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).
The Los Angeles company is also establishing a new partnership with Florida A&M and funding scholarships through the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. Riot said it will continue investments in various educational programs like Girls Who Code, Urban TxT, Reboot Representation, and Code2040.
Other game companies have also made donations. Zynga announced $1 million in donations to the ACLU Foundation; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; Northside Achievement Zone (organization pursuing achievement in schools for children of color); and Race Forward (dedicated to supporting and lifting up local Black-led community organizations). ; Electronic Arts also donated $1 million to the Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
In a letter to Riot Games employees, president Dylan Jadeja said it was a “very emotional and challenging time.” He said “the murder of yet another unarmed Black man has ignited a national outcry for justice, not only for George Floyd, but countless others in the Black community who are dying at the hands of a system that they are supposed to be able to trust.”
He said systemic racism isn’t new, but complacency has contributed to slower progress than is needed to drive lasting change. Riot, he said, has a part to play.
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