Unity just revealed they are going to have another round of layoffs, firing 1,800 employees.
As reported on Video Games Chronicle, the company disclosed their plans in a regulatory filing that just got published for the public. This number represents 25 % of their workforce as it is.
This is the fourth round of layoffs, that got started when CEO John Riccitiello himself stepped down from the company. Unity said that “the cuts were part of a company-wide restructuring and refocus on its core business, as it attempts to position itself for long-term growth.”
These incredibly large number of layoffs are the consequence of an ill-timed and ill-executed business shift, that turned the more famous and successful indies and small game studios on the company.
Unity announced plans to change how they were monetizing the engine, which is ostensibly free to use for any developer. As it is, Unity ran an asset store and provided support for their eponymous engine. The new plans would require developers who hit a certain threshold to pay Unity a portion of their profits.
While this isn’t an entirely new way of doing business with game engines, the developers were angry with the sudden announcement, that left them unprepared to change the way they made business, and also the details of the monetization itself. It was the successful indies that would be adversely affected the most if their plans were executed.
Unity tried to roll back those plans, but now, these layoffs and restructuring are happening because they have simply accepted that many developers will no longer work with them moving forward.
Unity attempted to justify the changes by pointing out that their business was not seeing much growth. This meant they were not making enough money to invest in improving the engine, and they needed to have a way to do that to grow their business. Of course, the devs themselves had long complained that Unity wasn’t seeing much improvement either.
Now, Unity has to make do with being a considerably smaller company than they used to be to find a path towards growth again. Unity claims they will finish these layoffs by the end of this fiscal year, which should be on March 31, 2024.
Other changes the company is planning include discontinuing certain products and trimming down their office footprint. It’s hard to imagine what the future will be like for the engine where games like Genshin Impact, Crossy Road, Pokemon Go, and Among Us will look like after the company is finished changing itself completely.
