Unity 'Resets;' Closed Divisions, Laysoffs and Changes to Work Model
Unity has decided to lay off nearly three hundred of its employees and implement a new model for office operations. The company will also not hesitate to close branches in more than a dozen locations.
It has come to what Unity considered. The company decided to carry out a hard "reset," which includes layoffs of employees, changes in the work model or termination of the contract with the company founded by the director of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
- Unity will resign from the services of Weta FX owned by Peter Jackson, which has been working with the giant since 2021.
- As a result the company will lay off 265 employees, who were directly involved in this cooperation. This represents less than 4% of the workforce (about 7,000 people).
- Unity will also close subsidiaries in 14 locations. These include branches in Berlin and Singapore.
In addition, selected offices in the United States (San Francisco, Bellevue), among others, will start operating in a different mode. The company will no longer require employees to come to work at least three days a week, thus betting on remote work. In turn, branches in other locations are to reduce operations to three days a week.
Recall that this September the gaming industry was heated up by Unity's announcement of introducing a new fee for installing games developed on the company's engine. Since then, the company has eased these conditions, although the distaste remained and to date the giant has not regained trust.
The aforementioned controversy has taken its toll. In Octorber John Riccitiello, who had spent nine years at Unity, stepped down from the position of chairman.
It is worth mentioning that the company recently unveiled its new engine version - Unity 6, which offers better rendering and lighting in games. It will be made available to th developers next year.
