Just over a week after Activision announced it would be cutting around 800 jobs, ArenaNet is planning for its own round of layoffs. The ArenaNet layoffs are coming down from parent company NCSoft and are affecting an unknown number of employees.
Kotaku reports that the Guild Wars 2 developer is planning for mass layoffs and it informed employees today that a round of layoffs is coming in the immediate future. An exact number of employees was not revealed or finalized, but roughly 400 people currently work at ArenaNet. According to Kotaku, NCSoft West CEO Songyee Yoon emailed employees earlier today with the news.
“Our live game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased. Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us up for future success.”
Yoon also added that the company is planning to cut costs throughout NCSoft, and restructuring across the board. NCSoft and ArenaNet publishing divisions are being merged together. “The restructuring, cost-cutting, and strategic realignments are all being done to secure our tomorrow and to provide the foundation that will allow us to grow and acquire.”
ArenaNet management met with employees twice this afternoon. No word has come about how many people are being laid off, or who will be affected. The ArenaNet layoffs are expected to come to employees who had been working on now-canceled projects.
The studio has been supporting Guild Wars 2 since it released in 2012, and has been working on a number of unannounced projects. Slow development progress along with a lack of newly released in 2018 has led to a low financial outlook for the company. Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire expansion launched in September 2017 and is ArenaNet’s latest release.
NCSoft and ArenaNet have yet to publicly announce anything relating to the layoffs.
