It could be said that Unity is not going through its best time. The developer of one of the most famous video game creation engines in the world plans to lay off 1,800 employees, which represents a quarter of its workforce.
These numbers add to the more than 1,100 positions that the company has already eliminated since it began with layoffs in 2021. And things are not looking good: Unity has gradually eliminated hundreds of jobs (in May 2023 it laid off 600 employees) and has already closed 14 offices worldwide. Although Unity broke profit records in 2022, the company has not met its forecasts in the last three quarters.
According to Engadget, the company claims to have made this decision “while restructuring and focusing on its core business”. In this way, Unity continues with its string of questionable decisions, especially after angering a large part of the community with its controversial fees.
During the past month of September, Unity announced a change in its business model. The company offered new subscription plans, which included a controversial fee that developers had to pay based on the downloads their games had. These new rates were heavily criticized by developers, which caused Unity to backtrack.
2023, a year to forget in the video game industry
Unity has not been the only company that has seen its revenues reduced due to the decline in video game sales. The crisis affecting the sector has also affected other big names such as Sony (cut 100 jobs at Bungie), The Embracer Group (laid off over 900 people), or Electronic Arts (laid off about 1,130 employees), for example. The massive waves of layoffs have resulted in up to 9,000 people losing their jobs in the industry throughout 2023.
