Microsoft will let go of 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, it said on Thursday, the latest cuts in the technology sector that has extended massive layoffs over the past years into 2024.
09.01.2024 - 22:00 / techcrunch.com / John Riccitiello / Unity Ceo / Lay Off
Just a few weeks after its most recent round of layoffs, Unity is once again reducing its workforce. This time, around 1,800 employees will lose their job in the coming weeks as the company is trying to improve its financial performance after a difficult year.
Unity is the maker of a video game engine that is widely used in the video game industry. Some popular games that have been developed using Unity’s engine include Cuphead, Ori and the Blind Forest (and its sequel), Hearthstone, Cities: Skylines (and its sequel), Hollow Knight and Beat Saber. Unity’s main competitor is Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and the Unreal Engine.
In an SEC filing, Unity says that it is conducting this new round of layoffs as it “restructures and refocuses on its core business, and to position itself for long-term and profitable growth.”
Even though this move will reduce the company’s costs, shares haven’t moved significantly as Unity stock is currently down 0.62% in pre-market trading compared to yesterday’s closing price. At $38.74 a share, the company’s stock is still down significantly compared to its all-time high of $201.12 in November 2021.
Last year, after conducting three rounds of layoffs, the company tried to improve its financials by changing the fee structure for the engine. Under the old pricing scheme, indie developers who earn less than $100,000 per year would be able to use Unity for free.
Once you cross that threshold and generate between $100,000 and $200,000 in revenue, you would have to pay $399 per user per year. Bigger video game studios would have to pay $1,900 per user per year.
With the pricing change, the company said that developers would have to pay $.15 to $.20 for every game install after 200,000 installs. And if you’re a mobile game developer or you’re working on a free-to-play game, you can cross that threshold very quickly.
Many developers expressed their concerns and Unity eventually adjusted its plans with a new complicated pricing structure that isn’t strictly based on a per-install fee. Companies with more than $1 million in revenue get to choose if they would rather pay a per-user fee or a 2.5% revenue share. More importantly, the new pricing policy doesn’t apply to existing Unity games.
And yet, that controversy had some wide-ranging consequences as many developers lost faith in the game engine company. Shortly after that, Unity CEO John Riccitiello resigned. James Whitehurst, the former president of Red Hat, is currently acting as the interim CEO.
In November, Unity said that it was hitting the “reset” button on the company. And today’s layoffs seem related to this restructuring effort.
Microsoft will let go of 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, it said on Thursday, the latest cuts in the technology sector that has extended massive layoffs over the past years into 2024.
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Thunderful Group has announced a major restructuring programme that will see around 20% of its workforce laid off in an effort to significantly reduce running costs and rebalance the business.
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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 major restructuring programme that will see around 20% of its workforce laid off in an effort to significantly reduce running costs and rebalance the business.
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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.
Messaging and chat platform Discord is making significant cuts to its workforce, affecting 170 members of staff (17% of the company), according to a report from The Verge.