Yesterday we reported on Square-Enix’s first quarter outlook for 2024, in which it announced among other things that it plans to “rebuild its [US and EU] business divisions from the ground up” as part of a three year business strategy; the corpo jargon seemed to suggest that part of the plan would be layoffs for employees in those regions.
Well, we can now move from speculation to confirmation, as reports from an internal meeting and a statement from a Square-Enix representative confirm that layoffs are part of the plan, primarily targeting those working in the company’s publishing, IT, and Square Enix Collective indie games divisions.
“After several months of analysis and discussion among our leadership team, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our Western organization. This restructuring will unfortunately include a reduction in the overall number [of] roles across America and Europe. We are grateful to the talented Square Enix team members who will be leaving us and will support them during this transition.”
The number of employees who will be affected by this restructuring hasn’t been divulged, but staff were told in meetings that those who will be impacted will be informed this week, and layoffs are planned for sometime in June.
Naturally, our minds turn to Final Fantasy XIV, and while it’s hard to immediately know, we’re hoping that cuts on the publishing and IT sides won’t affect the MMORPG, and regardless it’s still another frustrating case of more employees being shown the door to add on to an already brutal year for games industry workers.
