Unity Software Inc. announced sweeping layoffs Thursday, reducing staff by 1,800, or 25% of its workforce, just weeks after its most recent round of firings.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company said the layoffs are part of a restructuring as it hopes for more consistent, long-term growth.
Unity, headquartered in San Francisco, is the maker of a video game engine used by many companies to build their entertainment products.
The layoffs come after a difficult year for Unity. The company had just finished three rounds of layoffs, firing hundreds of workers in 2023 alone.
Meanwhile, the company changed its pricing model. Under the previous system, large companies were the only ones paying to use the engine, with smaller indie developers getting it for free.
Then Unity changed to a downloads-focused pricing plan, with developers paying 20 cents per download after 200,000 downloads. For large companies, the pricing wasn’t a massive issue, but for independent developers, it proved to be too much. After the update, many developers moved over to Unity’s competitor Epic Games and the more affordable Unreal Engine.
After the backlash, Unity changed the pricing model again to give developers a choice between a download-based pricing model or a revenue-sharing plan. The change eventually led to the departure of CEO John Riccitiello and the layoffs.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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