Riot Games

Aside from being surrounded by talented, fun people, at Riot you'll experience an all-encompassing culture that strives to breed significant, tangible improvement in all of its aspects. I feel I would be hard-pressed to find a single company across the nation, from 1-man shows to 10,000 employee super-giants, that seeks constant improvement with the ferocity that Riot Games does.

The company quietly structures away hierarchy and false barriers like rank and position, anything that gets in the way of great ideas and great work bubbling up to improve player experience. I truly felt like this was a place where knowledge and good ideas reigned, and where the company cared about its people.

The atmosphere is loud and communicative, very energetic, and an extremely welcoming place to come work every morning.

Let me first qualify my statements by saying that I am only an intern, but one that was paying close attention to these matters.

As scary as it may sound to some, Riot Games does not provide clear paths for upward mobility. Like all things at Riot, if you want it, you have to forge your own path.

While succeeding at keeping the feel of an almost entirely flat hierarchy, they have not yet worked out great ways to reflect the tremendous personal growth that employees will undoubtedly experience there. The people who are here are already so qualified, and such a unique breed, that the horizontally free-flowing nature of their role and title is all but appealing in most cases.

However, I think this is one area that will raise an eyebrow even from the most well-suited individuals.

Keep the focus on the players and on your people without succumbing to the pressures of the "industry standard" - even those standards set at the highest level of the industry. Posh workplaces aren't what is necessary to make exceptional games.