Layoffs have become all too common in the gaming industry as of late. Everything from Telltale’s closure to the recent massive layoffs at Activision Blizzard have come as a shock to gamers and professionals alike, and it looks like another company may have just experienced similar results. According to Kotaku, CD Projekt-owned GOG has laid off possibly more than a dozen employees.
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In a statement from a GOG representative, they confirmed that about a dozen people have been let go, but they were also careful not to refer to it as a layoff. “Letting people go is never easy,” they said. “We have been rearranging certain teams since October 2018, effecting in closing around a dozen of positions last week. At the same time, since the process started we have welcomed nearly twice as many new team members, and currently hold 20 open positions.”
One of the laid off staff members spoke with Kotaku, stating that the decision came from a company experiencing financial difficulties and that GOG laid off 10% of its staff. “We were told it’s a financial decision,” they said. “GOG’s revenue couldn’t keep up with growth, the fact that we’re dangerously close to being in the red has come up in the past few months, and the market’s move towards higher [developer] revenue shares has, or will, affect the bottom line as well.
“I mean, it’s just an odd situation, like things got really desperate really fast. I know that February was a really bad month, but January on the other hand was excellent. We were in the middle of a general restructuring, moving some teams around, not unprecedented. But layoffs that big have never happened before.”
This, of course, comes after Activision Blizzard laid off 800 people, despite recording their highest profits to date. One can only hope that those affected in all of these instances aren’t without work for long.
What do you think about this? Are layoffs in the gaming industry becoming too common? Should companies be doing more to protect their staff members? Let us know in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @anarkE7!
Thanks, GamingBolt!
