Israeli-founded gaming giant Playtika is laying off 615 employees as part of the company’s broader restructuring. The company confirmed today following last week’s speculation that the company was planning to part with 500 employees this week. Playtika CEO and Founder Robert Antokol officially informed the employees by email on Monday.
“The news I share with you today is difficult. After intense deliberation, we have decided to reduce our workforce by about 15 percent, saying goodbye to wonderful and talented colleagues and friends,” Antokol wrote.
The announcement comes just seven months after the company laid off 250 employees from its offices in Los Angeles, Montreal, and London.
In the email, Antokol added: “This decision has not come easy, yet we think it necessary to best position Playtika for the future. As we assess the current environment and look toward the future, Playtika must return to our roots of excellence through agility, efficiency, creativity, and being obsessed with winning to deliver the most fun forms of mobile entertainment to our players.”
“We will begin achieving this by balancing teams and redeploying talent, winding down non-core initiatives and consolidating studios for greater efficiency and a stronger focus on optimization. Evaluation of new game concepts will be centralized through our creative team at Wooga, and three current titles have been removed from the pipeline with priority toward strategic high-growth potential new games investments.”
We covered Playtika four years ago after the company acquired German game startup Wooga in a deal valued at over $100 million as part of its efforts to expand its casual games portfolio. The acquisition marked a significant step in the execution of Playtika’s diversification strategy into new game genres.
The 180-employee Berlin-based studio develops story-driven casual games in the Puzzle and Hidden Object categories
Playtika was founded in 2010 by Robert Antokol. The Herzliya, Israel-based gaming startup was among the first to offer free-to-play social games on social networks and, shortly after, on mobile platforms. Playtika is a leading gaming company with 22 million monthly active users playing its titles. Playtika is one of the world’s top-grossing social and mobile gaming companies.
The company was also one of the originators of live game operations. As new trends and technologies continue to disrupt and reshape the game landscape, Playtika continues to diversify its company portfolio and expand into new game genres, creating the most engaging and beloved entertainment experiences for its users. Playtika has over two thousand employees in over twelve offices worldwide including Tel-Aviv, London, Montreal, Chicago, Las Vegas, Santa Monica, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Kiev, Bucharest, Minsk, Dnepr, and Vinnitsa.
- SEO Powered Content & PR Distribution. Get Amplified Today.
- Platoblockchain. Web3 Metaverse Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
- Source: https://techstartups.com/2022/12/12/playtika-worlds-largest-social-casino-games-company-lays-off-15-staff-shuts-three-online-gaming-titles/
