Square Enix is laying off over 100 people this week from locations throughout the United States and United Kingdom. According to initial reporting from IGN, there are about 137 jobs that are "at risk" of being laid off by the end of the week in the UK alone. An "unknown number" of employees in the US will also be without a job by the end of the week.
A bulk of these layoffs will impact those working in marketing, publishing, business planning, quality assurance, and IT. Those who are being laid off will start to receive notifications on Thursday, November 6th.
This is all part of a "fundamental restructuring of the overseas publishing organization." This plan was a part of a presentation (PDF) shared first with Square Enix employees from the company's main headquarters in Japan. Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu says that the restructuring "is being implemented with the aim of further strengthening global publishing capabilities and improving operational efficiency."
A longer statement from Square Enix was issued to the public.
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.
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.
Even more disgusting is the fact that in the presentation, the slide about using generative AI to handle 70% of QA came right before the slides about the "reorganization" of their overseas studios.
