The contraction of Unity that occurred through last January, May, and November looks to be continuing into this year, as the game engine developer has handed 1,800 more workers their walking papers, shedding about 25% of its total workforce.
The layoffs were confirmed in an SEC filing, which explains that the layoffs come as Unity “restructures and refocuses on its core business, and to position itself for long-term and profitable growth” – a refrain that was used by the company to justify firings from last year.
“Unity has made the difficult decision to implement a workforce reduction, targeting approximately 25% of our total workforce across all teams,” confirms Unity PR director Kelly Ekins in a statement. “This decision was not taken lightly, and we extend our deepest gratitude to those affected for their dedication and contributions.”
It’s here that we point out that these new firings are part of a “company reset” that was alluded to in a shareholder letter this past November and come despite Unity seeing a 69% rise in revenue in the third quarter of 2023. We also remind readers of Unity’s attempted shakedown of developers with plans for mandatory (and exorbitant) per-install fees, which saw game devs rally against both the scheme and the Unity engine entirely and cost CEO John Riccitiello his job.
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