Twitch Layoffs Target Major Players

Twitch is being hit with layoffs targeting some of its major players, according to a report.

Esports journalist Rod Breslau is reporting on Twitter that the company has laid off "more than 25 people from the Twitch Studios and Community/Marketing teams yesterday, including several high-profile employees who have been with the company since Twitch began."

Among the employees laid off were major content creators and executives, including director of strategic partnerships Jon Carnage, video production manager Adam Contini, director of content marketing Ben "FishStix" Goldhaber, and vice president of community and social Justin Wong. Goldhaber recently posted a tweet saying he'd had "a pretty good run" with the company, implying he has indeed been let go.

7 years.

From 25 employees to 1200. 5 million monthly uniques to 100. 0 partnered creators to tens of thousands. Millions of lives changed, hopefully for the better.

It was a pretty good run, I'd say :')

— Ben Goldhaber (@FishStix) March 30, 2018

According to Breslau, the layoffs were said to be due to Twitch "overhiring" employees and having to readjust. The layoffs were done by VP of Content Michael Aragon, who Breslau reports was not in the office that day and conducted the layoffs through a remote call, and that affected employees were told to leave immediately.

You can read Breslau's entire thread on the layoffs by clicking the tweet below.

Twitch laid off more than 25 people from the Twitch Studios and Community/Marketing teams yesterday, including several high-profile employees who have been with the company since Twitch began, sources said. People were told that Twitch had 'overhired', and this was to re-adjust.

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) March 30, 2018

A Twitch spokesperson provided the following statement regarding the layoffs:

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.

[Source: Rod Breslau on Twitter]

 

Our Take
Restructuring happens all the time at major companies, but seeing major, recognizable faces being let go seems somewhat strange. Also, if you're going to lay people off, you should at least be able to do it in-person instead of through a video screen.

from www.GameInformer.com - The Feed http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2018/03/30/report-twitch-layoffs-target-major-players.aspx