Unity lays off 600 more, closing half of offices

[Zzero]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unity-lays-off-hundreds-more-closing-half-of-offices

Unity is cutting another 600 employees in its third round of layoffs in less than a year, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

The cuts equal about 8% of the company's headcount, and will leave it with roughly 7,000 employees worldwide.

Additionally, Unity is looking to reduce its physical footprint, cutting down its current 58 offices worldwide to fewer than 30 over the coming years.

"It's all about setting ourselves up for higher growth," Unity CEO John Riccitiello told the outlet, saying the cuts will look to reduce the number of middle management layers in the organization.

Unity is also planning to have employees return to in-office work at least three days a week starting in September.

Unity confirmed layoffs of about 200 people last June, although Riccitiello told us months later that most of the impacted employees had stayed with the company in a new capacity.

That was followed in January by the company laying off nearly 300 more.

In February, Unity posted its first profitable quarter (on a non-GAAP basis) dating back to its founding in 2004.

A dark day for gaming. Also, wow, Riccitiello really isn't competent, is he? How do you consistently fail to make money with one of the world's biggest game engines? Why does it have 58 offices world-wide? Why have employees still not returned to work? Etc....

 

[Bryank75]

Quite the cutbacks...

I think they should probably consider selling in the next few years. Not sure how viable they are on their own and they were overvalued for a long time.

It's very strange how the valuations in gaming are so inaccurate, many of them just don't seem to reflect the underlying value at all.

 

[ksdixon]

How popular is Unity these days?

MS bought Havoc physics engine ages back, but isn't most stuff Unreal Engine or custom these days?

 

[PropellerEar]

How popular is Unity these days?

MS bought Havoc physics engine ages back, but isn't most stuff Unreal Engine or custom these days?

Unity is quite popular on mobile.

 

[anonpuffs]

Quite the cutbacks...

I think they should probably consider selling in the next few years. Not sure how viable they are on their own and they were overvalued for a long time.

It's very strange how the valuations in gaming are so inaccurate, many of them just don't seem to reflect the underlying value at all.

One of the many imperfections of capitalism...sometimes the market really isn't all that rational

 

[Deleted member 417]

The chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[Yurinka]

It has a lot of value and potential, but it's also embarassing the low output they have with all these workers and offices.

They often release stuff that gets incomplete or remains to be fixed forever, and have many areas where they have a lot of potential to grow with relatively small improvements.

Regarding monetization, I think they could highly improve it by focusing it on different good and specific training courses.

I think they have a big management issue.

How popular is Unity these days?

Most indies and mobile games are made with Unity. It's super important for the industry, in the same way Unreal Engine is for AA and AAA games.