The PlayStation Portal stuttering issues that many have been experiencing since the system's launch seem to be caused by how the PlayStation 5 console handles streaming via Remote Play.
10.01.2024 - 20:31 / venturebeat.com / Emmett Shear / Dan Clancy
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Twitch, the Amazon-owned live streaming platform, has laid off 35% of its staff, or just over 500 employees. CEO Dan Clancy said these cuts are designed to “rightsize” Twitch’s workforce.
Twitch has struggled to turn a profit since Amazon bought the service about a decade ago. Since taking over for Emmett Shear, Clancy and Twitch made major cuts to turn the platform into a sustainable business. Last year, Twitch issued two rounds of layoffs totaling about 435 employees. With today’s layoffs, Twitch cut nearly 1,000 positions in total, or roughly 50% of its staff, in the last year. Additionally, Twitch’s chief product officer, chief customer officer and chief content officer all left the company in Q4 2023.
While Twitch has expanded globally, the company is taking a closer look at unprofitable markets too. As a result, the platform plans to shut down its operations in South Korea in February 2024.
“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 organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business,” said Clancy in an email to employees.
“Last year we paid out over $1 billion to streamers. So, while the Twitch business remains strong, for some time now the organization has been sized based upon where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we’re at today. As with many other companies in the tech space, we are now sizing our organization based upon the current scale of our business and conservative predictions of how we expect to grow in the future.”
While it’s not clear which departments were hit hardest, these layoffs might be part of Amazon’s broader strategy. On January 29, Amazon Prime Video will launch an ad-supported tier. Amazon leadership may be looking to consolidate Twitch’s ad sales into the broader business to reduce costs.
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The PlayStation Portal stuttering issues that many have been experiencing since the system's launch seem to be caused by how the PlayStation 5 console handles streaming via Remote Play.
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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.
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League of Legends publisher Riot Games has cut 11% of its staff, resulting in 530 layoffs. The major company restructure will see the company’s entire Riot Forge studio shut down and include cuts to theLegends of Runeterra development team.
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2023 was sadly the year that saw thousands of jobs in the games industry being cut due to industry-wide layoffs, and unfortunately, that’s continued in the early days of 2024 as well. The latest to join that list is Thunderful Group, the company that publishes and develops the SteamWorld series and owns the likes of Image and Form Games, Rising Star Games, Zoink, Coatsink, Jumpship, and Headup Games.
Thunderful Group has announced a restructuring programme to decrease costs, which will include both "significant staff reductions" and potential divestments, the company said.
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.
The early months of 2023 saw Embracer Group failing to close a $2 billion deal with Saudia Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, following which the company initiated a restructuring program that would entail layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closures. Sadly, Embracer Group’s continued efforts to stabilize its financial situation have come at the cost of a staggering number of company-wide cuts, and that’s something that’s continued into the new year.
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.