Jam City lays off hundreds of developers, impacting 17% of its total staff

gamedeveloper.com:

Jam City has laid off 17 percent of its overall staff, amounting to a wave of layoffs impacting hundreds of developers across the company's many studios.

Developers impacted have started to share the news on social media, while others across the industry have voiced their support for impacted staff. The layoff so far seems to largely affect staff at Jurassic World Alive developer Ludia, as well as Jam City's office in San Diego.

Though studio specifics remain unconfirmed by Jam City, the layoffs at Ludia reportedly include around one-third to half of the total studio headcount. We've reached out to the company for comment and further details.

In a statement provided to VentureBeat, a Jam City spokesperson said the decision to lay off between 150 and 200 employees aims to "better [position] Jam City for long-term growth." The statement points to the current "challenging global economy and its impact on the gaming industry" as a contributing factor, and adds that its recent acquisitions have forced it to "address redundancies associated with those transactions." Further in the statement, the spokesperson assures that "Jam City remains profitable" despite its decision to lay off hundreds of people. 

Jam City itself has owned Ludia for less than a year. The mobile-centric developer, known for Lovelink and a long catalog of licensed mobile games like DC Heroes & Villains, was acquired in September 2021 for a total of $165 million as part of Jam City's stated goal to acquire studios that specialized in the development of licensed games. At the time, Jam City CEO and founder Chris DeWolf said bringing Ludia into the fold represented the company's strategy of "acquiring great companies across the globe and heavily investing in our