Unity has already made itself unpopular with the unveiling of its controversial “runtime fee.” Now, the software company is making headlines once more with news that hundreds of jobs are being cut.
As part of a company “reset”
Unity is looking to axe 265 jobs, which is equivalent to 3.8% of its total workforce that operates across the globe, according to a report by Reuters. The company has said it will be terminating its partnership with Weta FX, a visual effects studio co-founded by Lords of the Rings director Peter Jackson.
On top of this, the report also states that Unity will be closing 14 branches, including ones in Berlin and Singapore, as well as reducing its “office footprint” in places like San Francisco.
This is said to be part of a company “reset,” which will include new policies, such as no longer requiring staff to work on-site three days a week. The company’s CEO, John Riccitiello, retired from Unity following the aftermath of the runtime fee controversy.
The interim CEO, former IBM president Jim Whitehurst, told Reuters that while “no additions have been finalized, it’s clear that we will reduce the number of things we are doing overall.”
Back in September, Unity was met with huge backlash when it announced that it would begin charging studios fees for each time a game was installed on a user’s system. The controversy led to some developers jumping ship, though a follow-up post on Twitter did try to clarify what the fees would entail and who would be affected.
Unity is – or perhaps was – one of the most popular development toolkits in the world, second only to Unreal. It’s been used in the making of many popular games, including Pokémon GO, Hollow Knight, Rust, and Layers of Fear.
