In the mobile gaming space, few names are recognized as much or have been around as long as Gameloft, a mobile game company who has countless mobile game titles with a handful of long-running and very popular franchises across multiple mobile platforms. With so many games and continued updates of their most popular titles, it would seem that Gameloft are doing quite well for themselves. That may still be the case, but news of Gameloft closing down its New York office and laying off all the employees who worked there might tend to raise a few eyebrows and cause people to think otherwise, and that seems to be what’s happening as Gameloft has apparently done just that.
The first details seem to come straight from Gameloft NYC’s lead programmer Kevin Chen, who opened up about the layoffs stating he as well as the rest of the staff have been terminated. Chen himself has tacked on 15 years with the company which is certainly no small accomplishment. That’s a long time to be at any job. It’s unknown whether Chen or any of the other employees are aware of why the layoffs and the closure have happened, but what’s likely is they may not be able to share the details of that information publicly.
Gameloft themselves have also kept quiet as to the reasons for the layoffs as well as the halting of production/closure of the entire New York office, and they have also declined to comment on how many people exactly were laid off. According to the reports though, the current rumored number pegs it as somewhere around 100 people. Gameloft did however offer a brief statement in regards to the closure and layoffs that followed, stating that “Gameloft is actively managing its production organization and is refocusing on its most efficient and experienced creation centers in order to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions and to grow its revenues faster and more profitably.” Whatever the reasons, Gameloft closing an entire office is no small matter. They’re one of the bigger names in mobile gaming and have been around for years, well before smartphones ever came to market, so it’s hard to imagine that Gameloft’s success is in no way affected.