Twitch has hired several notable people recently, such as Sara Clemens as COO (former chief operating officer at Pandora), Mark Weiler as senior vice president of platforms and services (formerly worked for the Rubicon Project), and Amir Shevat as vice president of developer relations (formerly of Slack). But, as it turns out, Twitch also let several people go yesterday.
However, the exact number of people affected by these layoffs remains unknown. To begin with, Twitch has never publicized the number of people working for it, with estimates varying from as few as 400 up to 1,200. Nevertheless, sources indicate these layoffs probably affect no more than 30 people. Strangely, these layoffs seem to come as a result of the company increasing and not downsizing which is what typically attributes to layoffs.
These layoffs come as a result of the company readjusting certain teams to better prioritize specific areas. These key areas are supposedly significant to the Twitch community as a whole, and Twitch appears to always be on the lookout for its community, which is why it joined the Fair Play Alliance. Nevertheless, the representative that announced this reorganization did not mention what these key areas were, nor did the representative directly address the layoffs. Check out the full announcement below:
With the popularity of the streaming service and the success of streamers such as Ninja, one may think these priorities include protecting its position in the gaming community. As noted in the announcement, Twitch plans to increase its headcount by 30% for 2018, so this move may seem antithetical to some. As the company increases in size, it may very well be that these layoffs prove to be temporary, although that doesn’t seem very likely.
“Coming off the record-setting numbers shared in our 2017 Retrospective, Twitch is continuing to grow and advance with success stories from Overwatch League to Fortnite’s milestone-setting streams. In order to maintain this momentum, we have an aggressive growth strategy for 2018 with plans to increase our headcount by approximately 30%. While we’ve conducted team adjustments in some departments, our focus is on prioritizing areas most important for the community.”
Layoffs – even as constant as they are in the gaming community – can be controversial, although the exact circumstances surrounding these are unknown. When and if the company addresses the key areas that were reorganized, it could provide some valuable insight into how these individuals were exactly affected. Until then, however, the Fortnite-dominated streaming service is still the streaming giant of the gaming community and will likely remain so with its currently changing organization.
Source: Polygon
