Unity, a prominent player in the world of game engines, is unfortunately making headlines for its latest round of layoffs, a move that spans its various divisions, from software development to advertising. The exact number of employees affected by this surprise reduction in workforce remains unclear. Unity’s chief executive, Matthew Bromberg, has reportedly addressed employees through a confidential memorandum which somehow ended up in the public eye.
Unity employees have relayed the shocking news publicly, many using professional networking sites like LinkedIn to share the unexpected development and initiate their job search. Key employees such as Peter Roe, a senior technical artist, and Coline Turquin, a seasoned software developer, are among those affected. The manner of layoff notifications, sent reportedly as early as 5 am, adds a layer of bitterness to the process.
A public post on Unity’s official discussion space further solidifies the extent of the layoffs, pointing to the end of Unity Behavior’s team. This group was responsible for a visual tool used to script behaviors for Non-Player Characters and in-game objects. “Although we have been included in the recent round of layoffs, we will strive to leave no degree of support that we can,” notes Shanee Nishry, the technology lead for Behavior. Nishry also expressed an effort to encourage leadership to open-source the project, though no guarantees currently exist.
This instance marks the sixth reported large-scale layoff from Unity since 2022. Amid an entity crisis, Unity attempted to extract a fee from developers for each installed Unity game, a plan scrapped after substantial backlash. In 2023, Unity had to part ways with an incredible 265 individuals and terminated its association with VFX studio Wētā FX. The trend continued into 2024 with an additional 1,800 layoffs, approximately a quarter of their workforce, all in the name of fostering profit growth.
The leaked memo reveals Bromberg’s views on why restructuring hasn’t had its desired cascading success. “Understanding the fatigue associated with past adjustments that didn’t deliver, we aim for 2025 to be our year. We are preparing to unveil products and services that will revolutionize our market stance and catapult us into long-term growth,” Bromberg states.
The memo proceeds to outline areas within Unity that need streamlining as “our product and engineering teams are overstretched, causing complications and restricting impact.” Bromberg adds that Unity has historically debated their focus at length, hampering prompt decision-making and stunting the release pace. Additionally, personnel and functional structures intended to expedite processes ended up slowing the company.
Bromberg’s memo outlines a shift in corporate direction that includes focusing on “fidelity for ubiquity.” Essentially, this means enhancing the performance of Unity software across various devices instead of pushing for high-end capabilities. He further emphasizes the need to address crucial technical debts for system stability, making it more competent and risk-free for game developers. Additionally, Bromberg mentions plans for platform extensibility, granting developers more freedom to innovate with Unity tech.
Unity is also contemplating investing in live services and artificial intelligence while providing developers and advertisers with more player data access. To achieve these goals, Unity aims to regroup vital technical teams to align product decisions with its new blueprint. This reorganization extends across Unity’s global offices, including Montreal, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen, Seoul, Tokyo, and San Francisco.
In alignment with this, Unity services like Unity Ads, Unity LevelPlay, and the Tapjoy offerwall will be integrated into the core Unity Runtime technology, sharing a single data-set and residing on the same cloud and data platform.
Although Bromberg’s memo provides insights, it remains uncertain how many employees will be displaced. To all those affected, we wish them the absolute best as they navigate their transition.
Leave a Reply