Square Enix Hit By Mass Layoffs As Publisher Reorganises Operations In North America & Europe
Square Enix has announced a major restructuring of its North American and European operations in an effort to ‘strengthen our development structure,’ resulting in mass layoffs the looks set to impact over 100 employees at the Final Fantasy publisher.
As reported by IGN, Square Enix employees based in the US and UK were notified of the layoffs yesterday, with an undisclosed number of staff in the US set to lose their jobs by the end of the week. It is believed that as much as 137 jobs in the UK are at risk as a result of the layoffs plans. However, this figure may end up being smaller as Square Enix must undergo redundancy consultation by UK law, which may save some of the jobs at risk.
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A slide presentation that has since been made available for public consumption was shared with staff, which revealed a progress report on Square Enix “reorganisation of overseas organisations,” which is believed to be related to this restructuring. This has already seen shuttering “overseas development studios and shift[ing] toward consolidating development functions in Japan.”
The layoffs were confirmed to IGN in the following statement:
We are reorganizing our operations in North America and Europe to strengthen our development structure and to drive a globally integrated marketing strategy. This was an extremely difficult decision, made following careful consideration and analysis by our leadership, in order to best position the Group’s long-term growth.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the talented team members who will be departing the company for their significant contributions to Square Enix. During this period of transition, we remain committed to treating each individual with the utmost respect and providing extensive support throughout this process.
Square Enix recently revealed that it is hoping for the majority of its QA and debugging to be handled by Generative AI by the end of 2027.
[Source – IGN]
