Gameloft’s struggles and job cuts continue, although the company remains unwilling to confirm numbers. Less than two months after reportedly closing its New York office, costing 100 jobs in the process, Gameloft has reportedly cut 80 jobs from its Tokyo office as well. According the ex-employee who revealed the numbers to Gamasutra, there are 11 employees left in that office. Gameloft has refused to confirm these statistics.
Gameloft Tokyo was the development team behind Magna Memoria, a mobile game that came out in Japan this May. While the game was also playable in English, it never made its way to American app stores, and struggled to take off. This, according to the source, was the reason for the cuts.
While a downward trend, and certainly disappointing for the people who lost their jobs, it appears to be more a case of overreach than a cause for concern. Gameloft, most famous for the mobile game Minion Rush, employs over 6,000 people across several countries, and with the number of games it produces (over 200 on its website store), duds are expected.
Losing 180 employees isn’t a good sign for any company, but the sky isn’t falling for Gameloft. For now, it can probably be considered to be just a bit of a rough patch.
