Layoffs have afflicted Unity’s offices across the globe. […] On Blind, the anonymous messaging board commonly used by employees in the tech industry, Unity staffers say that roughly 300 or 400 people have been let go, and that layoffs are still ongoing. […]
Unity has been a “shit show” lately, one person familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, told Kotaku. Attrition. Mismanagement. Strategic pivots at a rapid, unpredictable rate.
Two weeks prior, apparently, CEO John Riccitiello had lied in an all-hands meeting that they wouldn’t be laying off anyone.
What’s more, there has been a flurry of acquisitions lately, most recently digital effects studio Weta for $1.62b and Parsec for $320m, while investment into creative ventures all but dried up. The only creative team who’d been working internally on a game was fired as well.
And then there’s this:
This project that Unity debuted this year, aimed at improving users’ knowledge of Unity, improve tooling, level up creator skills, that was fun and inspiring, that a lot of people were looking forward to? Everyone in that team picture has been fired. https://unity.com/demos/gigaya
I always had my reasons to distrust Unity deeply, and indicators for a smoldering fire under the hood have been there for a very long time. So if its C-suite now is officially a coterie of lying weasels, maybe we should rewind to about a year ago and take their protestation in this matter with the tanker truck of salt it deserved all along.