Video game engine creator Unity is laying off 1800 employees, or 25% of its workforce, according to a report from <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-unity-software-cutting-25-214155945.html?guccounter=1"><em>Yahoo! Finance</em></a>. The company announced these layoffs in an internal memo sent out on Monday, January 8. These job cuts follow a turbulent 2023 for the company after <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2023/09/12/unity-introduces-controversial-per-install-fee-several-indie-devs-respond">it attempted to introduce per-install fees to developers using its game engine</a> before later walking it back.
Unity is expected to lay off 1800 people by the end of March and once complete, it will be the company’s largest round of layoffs ever. It will be its fourth round of layoffs since July 2022, as noted by Yahoo! Finance. The job cuts are expected to affect all departments at Unity.
These impending layoffs at Unity join an ever-growing list of layoffs that made last year one of the worst ever for game developers and people in game development-adjacent industries.
In January of last year, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees amidst its ongoing $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which it completed in October.
Striking Distance Studios, the team behind 2022’s The Callisto Protocol, laid off more than 30 employees in August of 2023. That same month, Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare laid off 50 employees, including long-time studio veterans. The following month, in September, Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios laid off roughly 45% of its staff, and Fortnite developer Epic Games laid off 830 employees.
In October of last year, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog laid off at least 25 employees, and Telltale Games also underwent layoffs, although an actual number of affected employees has not yet been revealed. Dreams developer Media Molecule laid off 20 employees in late October.
In November, Amazon Games laid off 180 staff members, Ubisoft laid off more than 100 employees, Bungie laid off roughly 100 developers, and 505 Games’ parent company, Digital Bros, laid off 30% of its staff.
In December, Embracer Group closed its reformed TimeSplitters studio, Free Radical Design, and earlier in the year, Embracer closed Saints Row developer Volition Games, a studio with more than 30 years of development history. A few weeks before the winter holidays, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Hasbro laid off 1,100 employees.
The games industry will surely feel the effects of such horrific layoffs for years to come. The hearts of the Game Informer staff are with everyone who’s been affected by layoffs or closures.
[Source: Yahoo! Finance]
Source: Game Informer
