Unity purchased Wētā Digital in 2021 in a $1.6 billion deal and brought over 275 employees. Now, the game engine maker is laying them all off.
Unity Technologies is laying off 265 people — 3.8% of its 7,000 employees — as it undergoes a “company reset,” according to Reuters. All 256 laid off workers were part of Unity’s Wētā Digital division; several Wētā FX tools and 275 employees were acquired by Unity in 2021 in a $1.6 billion deal.
A Unity representative confirmed the layoffs to Polygon, pointing to the Reuters report “for specifics.” Unity is the video game engine company that games like Pokémon Go, Marvel Snap, Outer Wilds, and plenty more are built on. Wētā FX tools are available to Unity members to assist in character creation, environmental design, visual effects work.
Alongside the layoffs, Unity is closing 14 offices and ending an agreement with Wētā FX, the new company made of the legendary VFX teams and owned by Peter Jackson, that’s been in place since the Wētā Digital acquisition. (That company was “expected to become Unity’s largest customer in the Media and Entertainment space,” according to the 2021 news release.
