The unit is laying off hundreds of employees

Unity, the company behind the popular game development engine of the same name, recently laid off hundreds of employees, according to multiple sources. Kotaku.

Founded in the mid-2000s, Unity is used by thousands of developers. You’ve almost certainly seen its logo pop up in loading screens for some of your favorite – or least favorite – games. In 2014, former EA President John Riccitiello took over as CEO. (In 2020, Rickettello He reportedly saw his compensation jump increased by 160 percent to $22 million). The company employed 3,300 people as of June 2020, According to the IPO filing With the Securities and Exchange Commission, though the company LinkedIn And the glass door From the North 5000 linked pages.

The layoffs have hit unit offices around the world. The sources say Kotaku That every corner of the company has taken some kind of hit, although there is a focus in the AI ​​and engineering departments. on me blindthe anonymous message board commonly used by employees in the tech industry, Unity employees say roughly 300 or 400 people have been laid off, and that layoffs are still going on. KotakuSources said the same.

Those who lost their jobs this week were asked by their superiors to suddenly log into a video call, without prior notice of the subject of the call. But for some of these calls, a member of the unit’s HR department also logged into the meeting. (In these situations, the meaning of this is usually very clear.)

If you’re familiar with Unity layoffs and want to chat, whether it’s saveable or not, my inbox is always open: [email protected] (signal and proton on request).

Unity continues to pay those who are laid off for a month, and offers an additional month of dismissal and COBRA health coverage after that. Affected employees are also eligible to apply for other open positions at the company. But here’s the problem: The company has reportedly enacted a hiring freeze across all departments.

One person familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the unit had been a “bullshit show” recently. Kotaku. drain. bad management. Strategic pivots at an unpredictable fast rate. The unit has also experienced a wave of acquisitions lately. last year, Unity buys digital effects studio Weta—Founded by film director Peter Jackson and best known for her work on symbol picture And the Lord of the rings Movies for $1.62 billion. in August, The unit acquired Parsecwhich takes advantage of cloud technology to allow users to stream video games, for $320 million.

Two weeks ago, during a group session in front of nearly 3,000 full-time employees at Unity, Riccitiello assured employees that the company was not in any financial trouble, and that Unity would not lay off anyone, according to sources who attended.

Unit representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

One source said, “Even after all this chaos, few of us chose to be loyal to work.” Kotaku. “It seems our loyalty has become a burden.”