Reuters just reported about it Unity is cutting about 1,800 employees, or 25% of its total workforce, according to regulatory filings and internal company memos.
This is said to be the largest layoff in the company’s history, much larger than what happened last November, and it is expected to be completed by the end of March. Unity has gone through three rounds. previous layoff within the last 12 months.
“We are… reducing the amount of work we do to focus on our core business and drive long-term success and profitability,” interim CEO Jim Whitehurst wrote in an internal memo seen by Reuters. The memo was sent to all Unity employees on January 8.
Unity Software’s main products are Unity engine, a versatile and popular game engine that supports a wide range of titles big and small — including Hearthstone and Pokemon GO. The company was at the center of a major controversy last September when it announced changes to the way it charges developers and publishers to use its technology. Developers would likely have to pay per gamer install, which could become prohibitively expensive for mobile free-to-play or popular games on platforms like Steam.
This policy change quickly received fierce opposition from developers and the community, forcing the company to apologize and cancel most of its new plans. In October, shortly after everything happened, John Ricetello, Unity’s then-CEO, resigned. That’s when current interim CEO, Whitehurst, took over the company. In November, during the final round of layoffs, the new CEO announced that the company needed to “restart”..
Layoffs are becoming a sad trend in the gaming industry with an estimated 6,000 jobs lost in 2023. And it looks like things won’t get any better in 2024 with the first shot being fired from Unity side.
