'Guild Wars 2' Studio ArenaNet Braces For Massive Wave of Layoffs (UPDATE)

UPDATE: The company meeting is now over, employees are reporting that ArenaNet is being very transparent about the pending layoffs. No timeline had been given, but compensation packages are being offered.

Following on the heels of the massive layoffs that Activision-Blizzard experienced that affected over 800 employees, another studio is reportedly headed towards a similar fate. According to recent reports, Guild Wars studio ArenaNet is expected to be hit in the near future.

According to Kotaku, an employee that works for the studio told them that they were made aware of a huge wave of layoffs on the horizon earlier today. An exact number of those anticipated to be affected by this news hasn't been given, but the initial report states that it won't be a small number.

"Our live game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased," wrote ArenaNet's parent company CEO Songyee Yoon in an alleged email. "Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us up for future success."

The same email reads that the entire company will see a dramatic reduction in costs across the board and that a restructuring is on the horizon between ArenaNet and NCSoft's other divisions.

Guild Wars 2 has seen several wildly popular expansions since its initial launch and the studio had numerous unannounced plans in the works. Unfortunately, those plans have been slowed down exponentially in the past year, causing revenue to halt and the company forced to rethink strategy. With a reported significant decrease in PC revenue as a whole, the news of potential layoffs is something that has been dreaded for quite some time now.

Suddenly coming face-to-face with potentially losing a job one has worked so hard for, it's never an easy position to be in, especially given how grueling the work can be at times. Developers have a passion for their creations that make the long-hours and social media onslaughts worth it and to see that suddenly change is heartbreaking.

We've reached out to ArenaNet for comment.

If you know anything about the most recent report, feel free to hit me over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy.