Unity announces plan to lay off 25% of its workforce at 1,800 employees

Unity has announced it intends to lay off approximately 1,800 employees, or around 25% of its workforce.

In a regulatory filing published on Monday, the game engine maker said the cuts were part of a company-wide restructuring and refocus on its core business, as it attempts to position itself for long-term growth.

The San Francisco-headquartered firm said it expected to complete the layoffs by the end of its current fiscal year in March and that all areas and regions of its business would be affected.

This is the fourth round of layoffs at Unity in the last year and follows a period of significant instability for the company. In October, it announced that John Riccitiello was stepping down as president and CEO effective immediately.

His departure came weeks after the company sparked a backlash from the development community by announcing controversial monetisation plans for its popular game development engine, which it partially walked back following the outcry.

Former IBM president James Whitehurst, who was appointed as Unity’s interim president and CEO when Riccitiello left, told Reuters at the time that further changes designed to “refocus” the company were planned.

Unity’s quarterly earnings report published in early November then confirmed planned structural changes, which it said would likely include discontinuing certain products, reducing its 7,000-strong workforce, and cutting its office footprint.

Later that month, it confirmed plans to cut 265 jobs or 3.8% of its global workforce as part of a company “reset”.

This latest round of redundancies continues an incredibly difficult run for the games industry. Last year, it’s estimated that over 9,000 people lost their jobs.

Companies impacted by layoffs include Xbox Game Studios, Epic Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, CD Projekt, Unity, Riot Games, Blizzard, Crystal Dynamics, BioWare, Striking Distance, Team17, Frontier Developments and Telltale Games.