Unity announces “likely” layoffs to save costs
Things are not getting better for game engine developer Unity in terms of news: After it tried to push through a disastrous new pricing policy earlier this year, which led to a massive backlash from the games industry, and the subsequent retirement of CEO John Riccitiello, it announced that it’ll “likely” implement layoffs as part of a pre-emptive cost-cutting programme.
Unity stated this in its latest earnings report, which shows that the company’s revenue fell within expectations in the previous quarter. However, to improve “profitability metrics” some measures would need to be implemented, among them potential layoffs and an assessment of the product portfolio. The resulting measures will “likely include discontinuing certain product offerings, reducing our workforce, and reducing our office footprint.”
Unity's 2023 has been a messy one, to say the least, and it's been entirely self-inflicted by management.
Unity
While Unity eventually relented and adjusted its pricing model as a result of the public backlash its initial plans received, many developers’ trust in the company is completely broken after this entire affair, which is very likely going to hurt the game engine maker in the long run – plans to switch to rival engines have been communicated by several big indie developers, some directly financing open-source competitors through crowdfunding programs.
If there have to be layoffs, one would hope that the first people in the crosshairs are those who pushed for the catastrophic pricing changes, as they are the ones responsible for hurting the company’s reputation and future revenue the most. Sadly, experience tells us that that likely won’t be the case and it’ll be regular staff, many members of which warned management about the consequences of its terrible plans, who’ll bear the brunt of the cuts.
For now, there is still hope that job cuts won’t be necessary and saving measures in other areas will be enough.
