Square Enix has been hit by a round of layoffs, impacting employees in its US and European offices as part of “structural reforms.”
It’s unclear how many people are affected, but as VGC reports, staff were informed during an internal meeting on Monday. Eurogamer has contacted Square Enix for comment.
The layoffs will happen over the next month, with employees in publishing, IT, and the indie games division Square Enix Collective most affected.
UK employees will enter a one month consultation period, as per local employment law. US employees could leave their positions even sooner.
Yesterday, Square Enix released its latest financial report, in which the company stated it had “begun optimizing costs at its European and American offices via structural reforms” as part of a plan to “rebuild overseas business divisions from the ground up.”
As company president Takashi Kiryu has previously stated, Square Enix is undergoing a review of its development system to improve the quality of its games.
Yesterday’s report provided further details on its medium-term business strategy, including plans to “aggressively” pursue a multiplatform strategy across Nintendo consoles, PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
It aims to be “bold” in creating new franchises as part of a shift from quantity to quality, balancing developer creativity with data from customers and the wider market.
However, following the release of the report, shares in Square Enix fell by 16 percent, Bloomberg reported, which is the company’s biggest decline in 13 years.
Despite the release of big games like Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, profits have failed due to high development costs, a decline in MMO and mobile games, and the write-off of £112m worth of in-development projects.
And while the company is streamlining its development efforts, it will take time for this to translate into sales, Kiryu said.
Layoffs at Square Enix follow the likes of Sony, Microsoft, Sega and more, as well as smaller companies. Check out our feature on video game layouts across the industry.
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