GOG lays off a dozen employees over reported financial strain

Digital storefront GOG laid off a dozen staff last week amidst rumors of financial strain, Kotaku reports.

This news follows the significant layoffs at Activision-Blizzard a few weeks ago, including the closure of two U.S.-based King studios. 

Owned by The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red, the company did not disclose the circumstances surrounding the layoffs, but a laid-off employee tells Kotaku the reason was reportedly due to money. 

A representative for GOG gave an official statement confirming the layoffs, saying that while "letting people go is never easy, we have been rearranging certain teams since October 2018, effecting in closing around a dozen of positions last week."

"At the same time, since the process started we have welcomed nearly twice as many new team members, and currently hold 20 open positions," they continue. 

However the employee speaking with Kotaku tells a different story, saying that laid-off staff were told that the company made the decision under duress, estimating that the layoffs had hit 10 percent of GOG’s staff.

“We were told it’s a financial decision,” they explained. “GOG’s revenue couldn’t keep up with growth, the fact that we’re dangerously close to being in the red has come up in the past few months, and the market’s move towards higher [developer] revenue shares has, or will, affect the bottom line as well."

"We were in the middle of a general restructuring, moving some teams around, not unprecedented. But layoffs that big have never happened before."

Interestingly, two CD Projekt Red employees described Gwent as being a financial disappointment, with the company going on to admit that GOG’s limited reach was one of the reasons for the game’s lack of success. 

The Thronebreaker campaign (a single player role-playing game set in the world ofThe Witcher combined with the gameplay mechanics of Gwent) was added to Steam despite being advertised as a GOG-exclusive shortly after.

However, it's worth noting that whether or not Gwent had anything to do with the layoffs is all speculation.