Square Enix Layoffs Underway in US and Europe as Restructure Begins | Push Square
With the industry in a crisis and Square Enix's marquee titles Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth failing to meet sales expectations, the storied publisher/developer is restructuring to " aggressively" pursue a multiplatform strategy. Sadly, this will necessitate a round of layoffs, which has already begun in the US and Europe. On games industry Twitter, impacted staff are sharing the sad news as the sorry process gets underway.
As reported by VGC, Square Enix staff were informed in an internal meeting on Monday. The scale of the layoffs remains unknown and will take place over the next month, but Square Enix said they will primarily impact workers in publishing, IT, and the company's Collective indie game division. Affected employees will be informed this week; UK employees will enter a one-month consultancy period, per local law, whereas American staff could be out of work before June.
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As always, we hope everyone caught up in this mess gets back on their feet. How confident are you about Square Enix's stated strategy and new direction? Let us know in the comments section below.
Khayl Adam is Push Square's roving Australian correspondent, a reporter tasked with scouring the internet for the most succulent of PlayStation stories. With five years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.
SE and their Absurd Sales Dream
I met Ana and Kathryn (another person that was laid off from Square Enix USA) last year at the Final Fantasy XVI pre-launch event in Los Angeles, so seeing them being laid off by Square Enix personally really hurts. Hope they find a better place soon.
This is insane…
The whole industry is going to continue to experience this for a good while into the future as AI and missed budgets happen. Sad to see it.
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