The development team behind Blizzard's now-cancelled survival game, reportedly called Odyssey, is seemingly among the teams dramatically impacted by the layoffs at Microsoft today.
11.01.2024 - 10:45 / thesixthaxis.com / John Riccitiello / Dan Clancy
The workforces of streaming platform Twitch and game engine developer Unity have been hit by massive layoffs this week.
Twitch has confirmed that around 500 people will lose their jobs, with CEO Dan Clancy writing in a blog post and internal emails that “Over the last year, we’ve been working to build a more sustainable business so that Twitch will be here for the long run and throughout the year we have cut costs and made many decisions to be more efficient. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, it has become clear that our organisation is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business.”
Since it was acquired by Amazon for $970 million in 2014, the company has failed to turn a profit at any point, despite being by far and away the biggest streaming platform for video games. This follows on from two rounds of layoffs that took place last year.
Elsewhere, Unity is cutting a whopping 25% of its total workforce with 1,800 employees being laid off as part of a “company reset”. That’s in addition to around 8% of the company being laid off last May, but comes off the back of botched attempts to change the business model of the core Unity Engine last autumn, which planned to charge for every install of a game and drew massive backlash from developers.
Unity backtracked and CEO John Riccitiello retired from the company in its wake, and it was seemingly a reactionary move as the company sought to rebalance the books. In November they warned that layoffs would be coming, but not to this scale, and there will be massive worries about Unity’s future because of this – they’ve also cancelled partnership with Weta FX late last year, having acquired the development side and original Weta Digital brand of the marquee visual effects company.
In a statement to The Verge, Unity said, “This decision was not taken lightly, and we extend our deepest gratitude to those affected for their dedication and contributions.”
It looks like 2024 means to carry on as 2023 ended, with mass layoffs across the games industry.
Our thoughts go to all those suddenly without work in the new year, and hope that as many of them as possible can find new work soon.
The development team behind Blizzard's now-cancelled survival game, reportedly called Odyssey, is seemingly among the teams dramatically impacted by the layoffs at Microsoft today.
Twitch has announced a major change to its Partner Program set to start later this year, expanding the qualifications for the site's lucrative revenue split. The streaming platform's partnership program has undergone a plethora of major changes throughout recent years, both adjusting its revenue splits and changing its partnership contracts. Last year saw Twitch introduce a new 50/50 revenue split with partnered creators, which was met with significant controversy and later saw a 70/30 revenue split introduced through its Partner Plus Program. Now, Twitch is set to expand its highest partnership tier.
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Twitch has reportedly issued a 30-day suspension to popular streamer Boggles1, following an on-stream stunt that saw the content creator gain plenty of notoriety throughout recent weeks. The Amazon-owned streaming platform has been no stranger to doling out bans to some of the biggest content creators using the platform, often garnering criticism for its policies. Popular streamers like IShowSpeed and Amouranth have been on the receiving end of Twitch's disciplinary action, with the former banned for nearly two years. Now, Boggles1 has become the newest streamer to receive a temporary ban.
Twitch is expanding its Partner Plus programme to allow more streamers to benefit from its higher revenue share.
Twitch has released details of its next TwitchCon events in both Europe and the US.
Amazon-owned Twitch is preparing to lay off 35 percent of its employees or a little over 500 people. The news was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday and confirmed a day later by Twitchin a blog post signed by CEO Dan Clancy. Employees will learn today via email whether they are or aren't losing their jobs.
In a follow-up livestream after a recent layoff announcement, CEO Dan Clancy confessed that Twitch is not profitable and has been relying heavily on support from parent company Amazon to sustain itself. Twitch just announced a massive round of layoffs, with roughly 500 people affected, and this subsequent statement regarding Twitch's financial stability has left many wondering if the platform's future is in jeopardy.
The CEO of streaming platform Twitch, Dan Clancy, has publicly spoken about the company’s recent layoffs, and revealed that right now, “we aren’t profitable.”
Amazon is losing money on Twitch, according to its CEO. Speaking in a livestream Q&A, Twitch boss Dan Clancy says that the site isn't profitable right now, failing to make money for its parent company, Amazon.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has admitted the Amazon-owned streaming platform isn't profitable.
The CEO of streaming platform, Twitch, Dan Clancy, has confirmed that the company is making layoffs.