Jam City laid off 17% of its total staff, representing a wave of layoffs affecting more than 100 developers across the company’s many studios.
Impacted developers began sharing the news on social media, while others in the industry voiced their support for impacted personnel. So far, the layoff appears to be largely affecting staff at living jurassic world developer Ludia, as well as the Jam City office in San Diego.
Following the publication of this article, a Jam City representative clarified that the layoff affects approximately 20% of Ludia’s workforce, rather than the 30-50% previously reported. The layoffs as a whole affect developers at all studios in Jam City, with the most impacting staff working in “Central Services”.
In a statement provided to VentureBeat, a Jam City spokesperson said the decision to lay off between 150 and 200 employees is to “better [position] Jam City for long-term growth. The statement says the “current difficult global economy and its impact on the gaming industry” is a contributing factor, and adds that its recent acquisitions have forced it to “address layoffs associated with these transactions.” Later in the press release, the spokesperson assures that “Jam City remains profitable” despite its decision to lay off hundreds of people.
Jam City itself has owned Ludia for less than a year. The mobile-centric developer known for love bond and a long catalog of licensed mobile games like DC heroes and villains, was acquired in September 2021 for a total of $165 million as part of Jam City’s stated goal of acquiring studios specializing in licensed game development. At the time, Jam City CEO and Founder Chris DeWolf said the Ludia integration represented the company’s strategy to “acquire great businesses around the world and invest heavily in our current studios. “.
Previously, Ludia developed mobile games for the jurassic world franchise, as well as the mobile dating game love bond. With Jam City, he intended to use licenses from DC, Universal Pictures, and Disney.
This acquisition in 2021 came as Jam City closed a record $350 million investment to support its growth strategy, and shortly after it abandoned plans to become a publicly traded company valued at 1.2 billion via a merger with DPCM Capital, Inc. These merger plans fell through into a mutual agreement between Jam City and DPCM, with a press release from both parties calling it “the best way forward” for all parties concerned.
Updated 8/5/22 to correct Ludia layoff scale following Jam City feedback and correct language regarding overall scale.
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