Streaming platform Twitch has announced the dismissal of more than 400 people, claiming that the company’s growth has not met expectations.
In a statement released last night (March 20), Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announced that the company will lay off “just over 400” employees.
“Like many companies, our business was affected by the current macroeconomic environment, and the growth in the number of users and revenue did not meet our expectations,” Clancy explained. “In order to run our business sustainably, we have made the very difficult decision to reduce the size of our workforce.”
This is the latest in a string of layoffs in the tech and gaming world. Last week, Mark Zuckerberg announced the layoffs of 10,000 people at Meta, which came just a week after Take-Two confirmed layoffs at its Private Division.
In January, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees while continuing to acquire Activision Blizzard.
“Because the company is focused on building a community together, this decision was incredibly difficult, and we took it not without much thought,” Clancy shared.
Clancy served as CEO of the company for less than a week, replacing co-founder and leaving CEO Emmett Shire on March 16.
“Since my first child has just been born, I’ve been thinking about my future with Twitch,” Shire wrote when he announced his departure. “Twitch often seems to me like a child that I am also raising. And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16, it seems to me that Twitch is ready to leave home and take a risk alone. Therefore, I am very happy to share my decision to step down as CEO of Twitch.”
— Emmett Shear (@eshear) March 16, 2023
Shire will continue to work on the streaming platform as a consultant and said Clancy “cares deeply about the Twitch community, its streamers and our employees and understands what Twitch, Twitch does.”
From other news: SteamElements has opened registration for its Creator Diversity Program 2023, which will support streamers from underrepresented groups.
