Unity announces plans to cut around 25% of its staff, affecting approximately 1,800 people

techradar.com:

Game software development company Unity has announced plans to cut around 25% of its workforce, with approximately 1,800 members of staff expected to be affected.

First reported by Reuters, these plans were revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing published yesterday (January 8). In the filing, the company said that the changes come “as it restructures and refocuses on its core business, and to position itself for long-term and profitable growth.”

This latest announcement follows on from job cut plans revealed within the company’s Q3 2023 shareholder letter by interim CEO James Whitehurst. At the time, it was stated that alongside a “comprehensive assessment” of its product portfolio, the company had begun “evaluating the right cost structure that aligns with the more focused portfolio,” and planned to “complete all interventions” by the end of Q1 2024. These interventions, it said, would “likely include discontinuing certain product offerings, reducing our workforce, and reducing our office footprint.”

Just weeks after that announcement, it was confirmed that 265 members of staff were being laid off as part of a “company reset,” as it terminated the ‘professional services’ section of an agreement made with the visual effects company Wētā FX. At the same time, Unity also announced the shutdown of offices in 14 locations. 

Last September, Unity’s controversial ‘Runtime Fee’ was first announced, and met with major backlash from game developers. At first, it was suggested that anyone whose games made in Unity passed certain thresholds (based on their yearly revenue and number of lifetime installs) would be subject to an additional monthly fee calculated using the additional number of game installs per