Jam City lays off over 200 staff

Jam City, the publisher behind Jurassic World Alive, has laid off 17% of its staff.

The layoffs: Jam City is preparing for the future.

• Over 200 people were laid off across the publisher and its subsidiary Ludia on August 4. This represents around 17% of its entire company.
• As per a Polygon report, staff that would remain at Ludia were informed of the layoffs first by means of a large call.
• Human resources later contacted the impacted employees and let them know of the decision. One Polygon source stated that they were losing access to work-related accounts while waiting for their scheduled meeting.
• “Ludia’s treated us very well over the years," an anonymous source told Polygon "They’ve done a lot to try to take care of us, but since the acquisition, that attitude seems to be changing. We’ve tried to have our voices heard, but we’ve, in general, seemed to be ignored. We feel voiceless.”
• Despite the layoffs, the company currently has 18 jobs listed on Hitmarker. Roles include Game Designer, Data Analyst, Game Artist, User Acquisition Specialist, and Senior Accountant.

The reasoning: It's tough out there for companies of all shapes and sizes.

• Jam City acquired mobile game publisher Ludia in September for $165M after receiving $350M in investment.
• The company is led by MySpace co-founders Chris DeWolfe and Aber Whitcomb, as well as former 20th Century Fox executive Josh Yguado.
• The current economic standing is resulting in companies, both involved in games and otherwise, adjusting their strategy and workforce as they look to survive a period of financial uncertainty.
• This too is the case for Jam City. "While Jam City remains profitable, we believe that in the current operating environment, this is a necessary move to enhance our financial flexibility and increase operating efficiencies, better positioning Jam City for long-term growth," a company spokesperson said.
• It also claims that this downsizing is a natural result of adjusting the number of employees it has after making several acquisitions. The company claims it's part of a restructuring to "realign our development teams" to "optimize performance."