Unity is now warning of potential layoffs and office closures.
As first reported by The Verge, in a third quarter financial earnings report published earlier this week, Unity warned of potential layoffs to improve "profitability metrics." The company writes that it will likely be "reducing our workforce" in the next fiscal quarter.
Unity also writes that it will be "reducing our office footprint," which translates to shuttering its various offices around the globe. The company is expecting to complete all these layoffs and changes by the end of the first fiscal quarter of the next financial year, in 2024.
- "One in 10" game developers were laid off in the past year, GDC survey of 3,000+ devs finds: "We set impossible goals and then fire everyone if they prove to be impossible"
- Marvel Rivals developer confirms layoffs to a US-based design team, but insists "we are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game"
This is following the company labelling its third quarter financial results "mixed," despite hitting revenue targets. Unity ultimately believes that it can do "better," though, and is going to be making the aforementioned changes in an effort to improve its revenue further.
If Unity does lay off staff, it'll be joining the likes of Telltale Games, Naughty Dog, Bungie, and many other studios in laying off developers over the past year, all of which has culminated in over 6,000 people being made redundant in 2023 in the games industry. GTA 6 publisher Take-Two recently spoke on the mass layoffs, assigning the blame to "the enthusiasm of the pandemic."
Unity, for its part, has taken serious criticism over the last few months for its planned 'runtime fee,' which look to charge developers for every time their game is installed by a customer. Developers widely revolted over the planned changes, with some pledging to never use Unity's game engine again, leading Unity to apologize for the planned fee, although it still hasn't scrapped the plan completely.
Unity's CEO even stepped down last month in the wake of the criticism, although developers like Slay the Spire's team said it was too little, too late.
