Twitch, the Amazon-owned live streaming platform, made dramatic job cuts Wednesday, laying off about 35% of its workforce. But Twitch is not the only gaming company to announce layoffs with just over a week to go until 2024, continuing a grim trend from last year.
Approximately 500 employees were affected by Twitch’s layoffs, CEO Dan Clancy explained: blog post Because the company was too large to meet its financial goals. bloomberg We first reported the news on Tuesday ahead of Twitch’s official announcement.
“Our organization is still much larger than we need to be,” Clancy said, explaining that he has spent the past year working to make Twitch “a more sustainable business” and that other cost-cutting methods are not enough.
Twitch’s CEO said the layoffs were part of a commitment to the company’s long-term success. Instead of his previous optimistic approach, Clancy is now sizing Twitch toward a more “conservative forecast.”
“This decision is incredibly difficult and painful, but it is necessary to ensure we can continue to provide a sustainable service to streamers,” Clancy said.
Chief Customer Officer at Twitch Doug Scott He called the layoffs “a huge deal.”
“I have full confidence in the long-term strength and potential of live streaming and Twitch’s role within it,” Scott wrote. “Today’s news is shocking, but the business has a great future.”
But streamer Ben “CohhCarnage” Cassell, who has 1.7 million followers on Twitch, raised concerns Wednesday about how the layoffs could affect the biggest streamers who are in contact with Twitch employees.
“There is little doubt that this will have a dramatic impact on our lives on the platform,” Cassell said.
Twitch parent company Amazon has also laid off “hundreds” of employees from its Amazon Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions. information First reported. Twitch too Crown Channel Exit Last year, it affected about 180 employees, and the company 400 employees laid off Twitch also announced that it would discontinue Korean services last December. “Extremely expensive” You will be active in the region.
But its media siblings Twitch and Amazon aren’t the only companies that have already experienced layoffs this year. Game engine company Unity announced this week that it would lay off an additional 25% of the company, or 1,800 jobs, as part of wider measures.company reset.” That’s more than the number of layoffs at Unity last year.
USA Securities and Exchange Commission report Unity said this month it was carrying out layoffs to “position us for long-term, profitable growth.”
Like Twitch, Unity has had a difficult 2023. Unity Web3 integration extension We also announced a new fee structure last year. angry game developermake the company apologize Withdraw part of the fee announcement A few weeks later. Soon after, Unity’s long-standing John Ricitiello resigns as CEO. And Unity had the most layoffs of any gaming company in 2023. Approximately 1,165 jobs were laid off..
None of this is good news for the broader video game industry, which has seen massive layoffs of 10,500 in 2023 and 8,500 in 2022. game files Newsletter reported.
Even though 2024 is less than two weeks away, Stray Souls game studio Jukai has already announced closureTikTok parent company ByteDance is exploring a sale of the company. video game businessBosa Studio fired one-third of employeesAnd Archiact, the studio behind Doom 3: VR Edition. fire an employee.
one Gaming Industry Layoff Tracker As of the 10th of 2024, the number of people laid off so far this year is approximately 2,320.
The numerous layoffs and closures in the gaming industry show no signs of slowing down yet amid the economic downturn. Cooling laboratory market. and Adopted by more game studios use Generative AI Tools Large-Scale Language Models (LLM), Gaming Talent, and gamer Likewise, continuing condemn the use of AI Concerns that AI work is not good for the industry and that layoffs will continue.
Editor: Andrew Hayward