As Kotaku explained, the first echoes of these mass layoffs came two days ago on Blind, a discussion platform that promotes anonymity among employees, whose exchanges reflect the suddenness of the news. According to Kotaku sources, affected employees are spread across the world and across departments, but AI and engineering teams will be particularly affected. If the fired employee will receive another month’s salary, they will not be able to seek another position within Unity, which has put hiring on hold.
Just two weeks ago, former Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, who took over Unity in 2014, claimed in front of thousands of his employees that the company was not in financial trouble and had no layoff plans, sources said. Note that if Unity sees its turnover growing every year, and it authorizes high-sounding acquisitions such as Weta Digital ($1.62 billion), companies listed on the stock market since September 2020 have mostly subscribed to annual net losses .
After a loss of $282.3 million in 2020, Unity performed even worse in 2021, with a loss of $532.6 million. 2022 is off to a bad start, with another $177.5 million loss in the first quarter alone. Very active in the indie market, including recent hits like Genshin Impact, Valheim, Naraka: Bladepoint or V Rising, Unity is less attractive to major publishers who typically turn to rival Unreal Engine or their own technology.
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