Unity reportedly intends to lay off 1,800 employees in their ‘company reset’ in what will be the largest round of layoffs ever for the video game software developer.
An internal company memoobtained by Reutershas revealed Unity will lay off 1,800 employees by March this year. The layoffs form part of the plans for a “company reset”, announced last year by new Unity CEO, Jim Whitehurst.
The company also told Reuters the “deep job cuts will affect all teams, regions, and areas of the business”.
The first phase of the “reset” began in November last year, with Unityterminating their agreement with Peter Jackson’s visual effects company.
The last 12 months have not been easy for Unity, the massive developer found itself in hot water last year, after it tried to impose a controversial “Runtime Fee”. The fee would have forced devs to pay up each time their game was installed on a PC.
Thefee was later walked backby then interim CEO, Marc Whitten, who apologized to developers and promised to heed their concerns.
Unity has been an integral part of the game industry for years. Its engine has been used to build a slew of smash indie hits, including Cult of the Lamb, Among Us, Cuphead, and Fall Guys to name a few. It also powers popular mobile games like Pokémon Go and Call of Duty: Mobile too.
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The layoffs from Unity are a concerning start to the year for the gaming industry, which saw record layoffs last year from companies includingMicrosoft,Ubisoft, andRelic Games.
Eliana was formerly a staff writer on the Australian Dexerto team. A freelance journalist for a decade, she earned her master’s in international journalism from the University of Western Australia. She has written for a range of outlets and most recently served as a founding member of the editorial team for esports news and leaks website, BLIX.GG. A lover of JRPGs and strategy MOBAs, when she’s not writing you’ll most likely find her playing Dota 2 or FFXIV.
