Unity Software Laying Off 1,800 Employees, Around A Quarter Of Its Workforce
2023 was a rough year for Unity Software, and 2024 is off to an equally rocky start. The San Francisco-based company, whose real-time game engine powers countless video games, mobile games, and more and more frequently vfx and animation production, revealed on Monday that it plans to lay off 1,800 employees, or roughly 25% of its workforce.
In an SEC filing first reported on by Reuters, Unity said that the company couldn’t estimate the costs associated with the layoffs but that the moves are meant to improve long-term profitability. A Unity source told the publication that layoffs will affect will affect “all teams, regions, and areas of the business.”
This week’s cuts represent the fourth round of layoffs at Unity since July 2022, and according to Reuters’ sources, additional changes are coming as part of a larger refocusing at the company.
In November of last year, Unity announced plans to lay off 265 employees from its Unity Weta Tools division, terminate a professional service agreement with Weta FX (formerly Weta Digital), shutter 14 of its offices, and scale down the remaining locations.
Those cuts came after Unity made changes to its pricing models and terms of service which were met with outrage by game developers. Numerous longtime users abandoned the company’s software, and Unity’s stock price bombed. In the fallout, longtime CEO John Riccitiello retired and was replaced by Jim Whitehurst as interim CEO.
At the time of the Weta Tools layoffs, Whitehurst explained that Unity would see even more changes as the company worked to “refocus” and “reduce the number of things we do overall.” Since then, Unity shares have jumped nearly 40%. After this week’s layoffs were announced on Monday, Unity stock jumped again, as much as 4.8% in extended trading.
