Unity in Trouble; Kotaku Reports Big Layoffs
Unity has experienced a wave of layoffs. Most likely, it is due to ill-considered strategic decisions.
- Unity has experienced a wave of layoffs.
- Over 200 people had to say goodbye to the company.
- This is probably due to ill-considered decisions of the company in recent times.
Unity is a game engine known probably by every player at this point. It would seem that it is ubiquitous and the company who created it should not have any problems with further development.
However, it turns out that recently there has been a wave of layoffs at the company. Several hundred people had to leave due to, among other things, ill-considered decisions on acquisitions.
Unity says goodbye to employees
Unity has grown over time into a really big company. According to an IPO document from 2020, the company employed 3300 people. LinkeIn reveals, however, that the current number is more than 5,000.
Kotaku's sources revealed that Unity has recently experienced a wave of layoffs, which included several hundred people. The website suggested that it could be as much as 300 or 400 people.
What is interesting two weeks ago, CEO John Riccitiello assured employees that there are no plans for any redundancies, because the company is in a stable financial situation. This statement aged like milk.
Initially, the company did not comment on the reports, but over time decided to clarify the situation. Unity has confirmed that it said goodbye to 4% of its employees, which translates to just over 200 people.
Under normal circumstances they could have applied for other positions in the company. However, currently all recruitment at Unity has reportedly stopped (even though you can still find the company's job listings online). So they have to look for a new job elsewhere.
Fortunately, they have some time to do so. One month after being laid off, they will still receive their paycheck, and the following month they will receive their severance pay. During this time, they will still be eligible for company-covered health insurance.
Why the sudden problems?
Sudden layoffs of such large numbers of employees are most often associated with internal problems. It is most likely no different in this case either.
Kotaku's sources claim that recently Unity has taken a lot of ill-considered decisions. The company's strategic goals are constantly changing, making work very unpredictable.
In addition, the company was to make several acquisitions, the point of which is questioned by anonymous employees.
These include the purchase of special effects studio Weta, founded by Peter Jackson (1.62 billion dollars) and the company Parsec, which specializes in streaming video games (320 million dollars).
This means these big costs that have yet to pay off. Apparently, a decision was made to recover some of them by reducing the number of people employed in the company. It remains to hope the employees will be able to find a new job soon.
