Game engine developer Unity Technologies has announced its third round of layoffs in less than a year which led to more than 600 job cuts, approximately 8% of its overall workforce.
Unity has acknowledged the loss of employment through a corporate submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. However,, the company merely stated that certain teams would be impacted while it strives to establish a solid foundation for sustainable and lucrative expansion.
As per the Wall Street Journal, Unity’s most recent layoffs will result in the company having around 7,000 workers. This move precedes the San Francisco-headquartered firm’s plan of trimming its existing worldwide office count from 58 to under 30.
After declaring its first profitable quarter in 2020, Unity revealed that it would eliminate about 200 job positions in 2022, followed by approximately 300 layoffs in January. The company’s recent call to cut an additional 600 jobs becomes a reality despite achieving a record revenue of $1.39 billion in 2022.
Unity CEO John Riccitiello told employees during the January layoffs, “We reassessed our objectives, strategies, goals and priorities in light of the current economic conditions. While we remain focused on the same vision, we decided that we need to be more selective in our investments to come out stronger as a company.”
Staff affected by this previous round of layoffs were invited to apply for other roles within Unity, with three-quarters of those finding new jobs at the company.
The news of Unity’s layoff marks yet another round of job cuts across the game and tech industry after companies including Google, Microsoft, Take-Two, Riot Games, EA, and Twitch have all announced layoffs in the last couple of months.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
