Twitch to lay off 500 employees

The games industry has taken a hit over the last year with numerous companies laying-off staff and the New Year hasn’t slowed that down. The latest company to let go of hundreds of employees is Twitch, with 500 employees, or 35 percent of its workforce, set to be laid off soon.

On January 9, 2024, Bloomberg’s Cecilia D’Anastasio reported that Twitch may be announcing the layoffs of 500 staff members tomorrow. This equates to roughly 35 percent of employees at Twitch, which follows on from the company laying off 400 employees in March 2023.

Twitch was acquired nine years ago by now-trillion dollar company Amazon, with D’Anastasio noting that the business remains unprofitable. In fact, Twitch is removing itself from Korea in late February after announcing that the cost of operating in the region is “10 times more expensive than in most other countries.”

The layoffs at Twitch are just another in a long series of layoffs that has rocked the games industry. Last year, Unity laid off employees, Amazon Games did the same, Bungie gutted its community and social teams, Epic Games had a string of layoffs while Naught Dog, Sega, Blizzard, CD Projekt RED, and others also cut employee numbers. Meanwhile, the video game market is projected to reach a revenue of $282.3 billion in 2024 according to Statista.com.

Suffice it to say, starting off the year with a round of layoffs is not a good look. Hopefully 2024 doesn’t continue on in 2023’s footsteps. Be sure to keep it locked to Shacknews as we bring you the latest on the goings on in the video game industry.