Business news Twitch and Unity lay off workers, while Rebels Wolves strengthens… Business news of the week

Business News Twitch and Unity lay off workers, while Rebels Wolves strengthens… Business news of the week

Twitch: new wave of layoffs, with 500 departures announced

We told you at the end of the year, the transition to 2024 will not mark the end of layoffs in video games and related technology sectors. Still not profitable after almost a decade under the aegis of Amazon, Twitch is also suffering from post-COVID and the closure of the service in South Korea. Over the past year, Twitch has already said “goodbye” to 400 people, and 2024 begins with a wave of 500 departures. First announced at Bloomberg, this wave was then confirmed by Dan Clancy. The CEO, who took over from Emmett Shear in March 2023, published a blog post in which he confirmed the dismissal, copied the email that was sent to employees, and announced a live broadcast that took place on the 11th. January :

I wanted to send you a quick message to let you know that we have made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our roster today. At this time, we are working to communicate with our employees and clearly explain how this affects each of them. (…) As you all know, we have worked hard over the past year to run our business as sustainably as possible. Unfortunately, we still have work to do to right-size our business and I regret to have to announce that we are taking the painful step of reducing our workforce by just over 500 people on Twitch.
I know many of you are wondering why this is happening. Over the past year we have worked to build a more sustainable business so that Twitch is here for the long term and throughout the year we have reduced costs and made many decisions to be more efficient. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, it has become clear that our organization is still much larger than it needs to be given the size of our company. Last year, we paid out over $1 billion to streamers.

The employees concerned then received an email containing information related to their severance pay, and how to organize an interview with their manager. The Slack accounts were not immediately deactivated, to give those dismissed time to say goodbye to their colleagues. Acquired for $970 million in 2014 by Amazon, Twitch has reportedly recorded record losses over the past two years.

Rebel Wolves grows stronger as a family

On February 16, 2022, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz announced he was starting his own studio, Rebel Wolves. If you don’t know who we’re talking about, know that Konrad Tomaszkiewicz was nothing less than the director of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt’s biggest success to date. Surrounded by several former members of CD Projekt, Rebel Wolves very quickly started work on its first game, a triple A dark fantasy designed under Unreal Engine 5. Thanks to his aura, the CEO quickly found funding from NetEase, who took the opportunity to buy a few shares in the very young studio.

By going to the studio page, you will undoubtedly recognize certain names, present in the credits of The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 or even Gwent and Thronebreaker. From now on, Rebel Wolves can count on Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, brother of, and formerly responsible for designing quests on The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3, The Witcher 3: Heart of Stone as well as The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine. He left CD Projekt in May 2021 to go work at Riot Games, studio in which he worked on the future MMO. Now back in Poland, he joins his brother CEO as creative director.

We want to create a world that you’ll want to explore and dive deep into to discover stories that will make you connect with the characters. We want to provide an experience that allows for a variety of choices and room for experimentation when replaying. Helping create this experience with so many talented people will be my mission at Rebel Wolves, and I can’t wait for everyone to see what the team has been planning for some time now, says Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz.

For now, the AAA game project is just entering in pha phase. We will therefore have to be patient, but we are promised some small information during the year. For those who are curious, note that despite NetEase’s investment, Rebel Wolves retain full control creative and ownership of its new license.

Unity to lay off nearly 1,800 people

The dynamics of 2023 continue at Unity, since an official document issued by the company announces the dismissal of nearly 1,800 people by March 2024, which corresponds to 25% of the current workforce. A new wave of layoffs which is part of this vast “reset” project announced for the company. After the massively rejected “installation tax” affair leading to the departure of John Riccitiello, and the separation from Weta Digital the agitation continues:

(…) On January 8, 2024, Unity Software Inc. announced that it planned to eliminate approximately 1,800 employee positions, or approximately 25% of its current workforce, as part of its restructuring and of its refocusing on its core business, and to position itself for profitable, long-term growth. At this time, Unity cannot reasonably estimate the costs and expenses related to this reduction, which are expected to be primarily incurred during the first quarter of 2024. The expenses will primarily be related to employee transition, compensation dismissal and social benefits.

This new social plan is added to several otherswhich took place from 2022. Unity had said goodbye to 200 people in June 2022, 300 employees in January 2023, another 600 employees in May 2023, then 265 people at the end of 2023. In 2022, despite 1 .4 billion dollars in turnover, Unity had announced 920 million net losses. The new wave of layoffs visibly had a positive effect on the share price, which jumped 5%. The market therefore reacts favorably to the restructuring.

In brief in the business news of the week

• PlayStation recorded 123 million active users in December. The last recorded record was 112 million in December 2022.
• Despite a very complicated launch, a move to free-to-play and a disappearance from the media landscape, Efootball has accumulated 700 million downloads according to Konami.
• Minecraft Legends is over. The servers have been deserted and Mojang will not force fate. The next update, expected by the end of the month, will be the last. All features will nevertheless remain accessible.
• The studio behind Marvel Snap creators, Second Dinner, announced that it has raised $100 million. Enough to envisage a future, a time disrupted by Unity and the announced closure of Nuverse.
• Deep Rock Galactic has now sold 8 million units.