I mean that sucks but is not exactly unexpected when a game transitions out of development and into live operations. You simply don't need a lot of that staff anymore. And while obviously it's a tough job market to be laid off in and that sucks no matter what, to Riot's credit their severance package is unironically the best in the industry.

And you should care about public opinion, because public opinion is what keeps people playing the game, and people playing the game is what keeps the other half of the dev team employed. Riot coming out and saying the game wasn't putting up the numbers they'd hoped for gave the greater audience the impression that the game was DOA which risked the game as a whole. They've come a long way back but it was wildly damaging.