New reports have emerged claiming that Unity has laid off a number of employees, with one report suggesting that the company's entire Behavior division has been laid off.
According to Unity Behavior head Shanee Nishry, the whole Behavior team has been "included in [Unity's] latest round of layoffs". Nishry says she's reached out to Unity leadership to ask if "they can open source the project", but that this isn't guaranteed.
Additionally, designer André de Miranda Cardoso posted on LinkedIn earlier confirming that he's been "affected by the latest Unity layoff[s]". Neither former employee confirmed how many staff members had been laid off across the company.
Other Unity employees to confirm the layoffs include senior software developer Coline Turquin and tech lead Florence Rolland-Soulier (both courtesy of 80.lv), the latter of whom refers to the latest round as a "wave of mass layoffs".
Another employee impacted by the layoffs, Peter Roe, "call[s] out" the way Unity chose to communicate the layoffs to staff, claiming that the company sent "a 5am email" from a "noreply" email address to inform him that his role would be "eliminated".
It's worth noting that Unity itself has yet to publicly announce or confirm these layoffs. However, given how many Unity employees (or former employees) are coming forward to share their stories, it seems unlikely that the reports are false.
Back in January last year, Unity revealed that it would slash 25% of its workforce in order to "refocus on its core business". It's unclear whether these layoffs are part of that wave or whether they represent a further commitment to cutting staff.
It's not the first time Unity has committed to laying off employees, either; in 2023, the company said it would lay off hundreds of staff members as part of a company-wide "reset" effort.
All of this follows the introduction of a controversial runtime fee policy change in 2023, which was so poorly received that it appears to have led to CEO John Riccitello retiring. The fee was subsequently canceled altogether in September last year.
