witch Faces Workforce Reduction of 35%, Amid Industry Challenges
In a recent report by Bloomberg, it’s rumored that Twitch, the widely-loved streaming service, is on the brink of laying off around 35% of its workforce—equivalent to approximately 500 employees. Insiders suggest an announcement may come as soon as Wednesday.
This potential round of cuts follows a previous layoff in March last year that affected 400 positions. If confirmed, Twitch could see nearly 1,000 employees departing within a span of less than 12 months.
Last year’s layoffs were attributed to challenging economic conditions, as stated by Twitch CEO Dan Clancy. He noted that the business needed to align itself with sustainable practices, given that user and revenue growth had fallen short of expectations.
The reasons behind the impending layoffs remain unclear, but more details are expected to emerge in the coming days. Twitch has been under the microscope recently, as it recently withdrew from South Korea due to what Clancy described as “prohibitively expensive” operational costs, despite earnest efforts to mitigate them.
Additionally, several key executives left Twitch toward the end of the past year. Despite efforts to increase revenue through a focus on platform ads, Twitch has yet to turn a profit in the nine years since its acquisition by Amazon, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
While the broader video game industry faced workforce reductions in 2023, Twitch remains optimistic about the future. Gamers can anticipate exciting developments in 2024, despite the challenges faced by companies both big and small in the previous year.