Unity layoffs have reshaped the company’s future—and sent shockwaves through the global game development community.
Between mid-2022 and early 2025, Unity laid off an estimated 3,200 employees across multiple departments, studios, and product teams. These cuts weren’t just about streamlining—they marked the end of Unity’s big expansion era and forced a full reset of the company’s goals, leadership, and business strategy.
From controversial pricing changes and leadership turnover to the shutdown of entire teams like Wētā Digital and Behavior, Unity’s last three years have been defined by disruption.
In this article, we break down every major layoff, explore the key factors behind them, and analyze what these changes mean for developers, the gaming industry, and Unity’s future in 2025.
Whether you’re a game developer, studio lead, or simply tracking the business side of gaming, here’s the full story behind the Unity layoffs—and what’s coming next.
Total Unity Layoffs (2022 – 2025)
Between mid-2022 and early 2025, Unity has laid off an estimated 3,200 employees—a dramatic downsizing that reflects just how much this leading company has changed in a short span of time.
Here’s how the numbers stack up:
- June 2022: ~175 jobs cut
- January 2023: 284 layoffs during a strategic reassessment
- May 2023: 600 roles eliminated, along with plans to shrink office locations
- November 2023: 265 more jobs cut—mostly from the $1.6B Wētā Digital division
- January 2024: Unity’s largest layoff to date—1,800 employees, or 25% of its entire workforce
- February 2025: Layoffs across departments, including the complete shutdown of the Behavior team
→ Estimated ~75 employees affected
Altogether, that brings the total to approximately 3,200 job cuts—a massive contraction for a company that, just a few years earlier, was expanding aggressively into VFX, AI tools, advertising, and real-time 3D creation beyond gaming.
But this wasn’t just about cutting costs.
These layoffs signaled a full-scale retreat from Unity’s broader creative tech ambitions, especially following the backlash to its 2023 Runtime Fee policy and the departure of longtime CEO John Riccitiello. Since then, Unity has attempted to reset its strategy and refocus on its core engine business—but the cost of that shift has been steep.
For employees, it meant waves of uncertainty, entire departments wiped out, and sudden job losses—often delivered with minimal warning. For developers, it raised real concerns about Unity’s stability and commitment to the tools they rely on.
Breakdown of All Major Unity Layoffs
Here are all the major layoffs.
June 2022 Unity Layoffs: First Signs of Trouble
Unity’s layoff cycle began in June 2022, when the company cut approximately 150 to 200 employees. At the time, Unity framed the move as a reorganization, but insiders noted growing internal pressure to reduce costs and sharpen focus after years of aggressive expansion.
This round didn’t make major headlines—but in hindsight, it was the first red flag. Unity had been riding high on pandemic-era growth, doubling down on acquisitions and new services. But once tech markets cooled, the company began to feel the weight of that rapid scaling.
January 2023 Unity Layoffs: Strategic Reassessment
In January 2023, Unity laid off another 284 employees.
CEO John Riccitiello shared a candid internal memo, acknowledging that the company had “reassessed our objectives, strategies, goals and priorities in light of the current economic conditions.” It was a clear pivot: Unity wasn’t just trimming—it was reevaluating its direction entirely.
At the time, Unity had just weathered a rocky 2022, with slowing ad revenue, underwhelming financials, and lingering skepticism around some of its acquisitions.
The layoffs reflected a growing urgency to protect the core engine business while cutting back on less profitable ventures.
Riccitiello’s message was optimistic, but the subtext was clear: Unity needed to get lean fast to stay competitive in a tougher market.
May 2023 Unity Layoffs: Deep Cuts and Downsizing
Things escalated in May 2023, when Unity announced its largest round of layoffs yet—600 employees, or roughly 8% of its workforce. Alongside the cuts, the company shared plans to drastically shrink its office footprint, reducing its global locations from 58 to fewer than 30.
This wasn’t just cost-cutting—it was a full-on reset of Unity’s operational model.
Remote work, consolidation, and rising overhead made maintaining such a wide network unsustainable. And while Unity maintained its focus on engine development, the move signaled a broader shift away from the expansive, experimental vision it had been chasing just a few years earlier.
November 2023 Unity Layoffs: Wētā Digital Division Hit
By November 2023, Unity announced another 265 layoffs, representing 3.8% of its remaining workforce. Most of these cuts—256 roles—came from the Wētā Digital division, which Unity had acquired for $1.6 billion in 2021.
The irony wasn’t lost on industry watchers. Wētā had been pitched as a game-changer, bringing cutting-edge VFX tools into the Unity ecosystem. But less than two years later, those tools were shelved, and the team behind them was gutted.
This was a tough blow—not just to the employees involved, but to Unity’s broader promise to bridge the gap between games, film, and real-time content creation. The Wētā layoffs marked a turning point where Unity publicly scaled back its more ambitious creative tech ambitions.
January 2024 Unity Layoffs: 1,800 Jobs Lost
In January 2024, Unity announced its most drastic workforce reduction to date: 1,800 jobs cut, impacting approximately 25% of its global workforce. It was a staggering figure—especially for a company that had already gone through multiple rounds of layoffs in the previous 18 months.
According to filings with the SEC, the company said the decision was part of a plan to “restructure and refocus on its core business” and to better position Unity for “long-term and profitable growth.”
But behind the corporate phrasing was a clearer truth: Unity had expanded too quickly, bet on too many fronts, and was now retreating hard to stay afloat.
This move came on the heels of a difficult year.
In late 2023, Unity introduced a controversial pricing model for its engine that sparked immediate backlash from developers across the industry. Accusations of broken trust and monetization overreach forced Unity to walk back parts of the policy—and shortly after, CEO John Riccitiello resigned.
By early 2024, it was clear Unity needed more than a PR fix. The company’s credibility with indie devs had taken a hit, and its sprawling portfolio—from ad tech to film tools—was becoming a liability, not a strength.
This 1,800-person layoff wasn’t just trimming the fat—it was a radical reset, impacting teams across the board. Unity PR confirmed that the cuts spanned “all teams,” reinforcing the idea that no department—creative, engineering, operations, or support—was immune.
What’s especially concerning is the scale. A quarter of Unity’s workforce gone in one wave raises serious questions about long-term stability. And with previous layoffs already thinning the ranks, this cut likely eliminated entire projects, pipelines, and perhaps future innovations we’ll never hear about.
More than anything, January 2024 marked the end of Unity’s big expansion era. The company is now trying to reclaim its footing as a leaner, more focused engine provider, but the path forward won’t be easy—especially with trust still recovering and competition heating up.
February 2025 Unity Layoffs: Entire Unity Behavior Team Laid Off
In February 2025, Unity quietly conducted another round of layoffs—this time without a public announcement or press release. The news came instead through LinkedIn posts and developer forums, where former employees began sharing that they had been let go.
Among the most notable changes: the complete shutdown of Unity’s Behavior team, the group behind NPC scripting tools that allowed developers to create smarter, more dynamic AI behavior without heavy coding.
These tools had been particularly useful for indie teams and smaller studios—exactly the audience Unity has traditionally served.
While Unity didn’t disclose how many people were affected, reports confirmed that the layoffs extended beyond just the Behavior team. Multiple departments across the company were impacted, and in a detail that struck many as especially harsh, employees reportedly received layoff notifications via email at 5 AM local time.
This layoff follows a series of high-profile missteps that have eroded developer trust. Chief among them: Unity’s disastrous rollout of its Runtime Fee—a controversial pricing model announced in late 2023 that would have charged developers a small fee every time someone downloaded their game.
The backlash was swift and intense.
Prominent developers took to social media to voice outrage, while mobile studios organized a boycott. The fallout was severe enough that Unity revamped the Runtime Fee policy entirely, but the damage was done. CEO John Riccitiello resigned shortly after, marking the beginning of a leadership reset.
Fast forward to 2025, and it’s clear the company is still feeling the consequences. While Unity has tried to shift focus back to its engine and core services, these layoffs signal continued instability and shrinking investment in experimental or developer-focused tools—even ones, like Behavior, that added real value to the development workflow.
For many in the dev community, the loss of the Behavior team feels symbolic: a reminder that Unity’s recent decisions have moved it further away from empowering creators, and closer to chasing monetization and shareholder appeasement.
Factors Contributing to Unity Layoffs
Unity’s layoffs weren’t just the result of one bad quarter or a shaky product launch—they were the outcome of deep-rooted strategic missteps, market pressure, and eroded developer trust.
Overexpansion Without Clear ROI
Between 2020 and 2022, Unity expanded aggressively—acquiring companies like Wētā Digital, Parsec, and ironSource, pushing into film, VFX, and ad tech. The goal was to become a “platform for creators” across all media, not just games.
But that vision came with massive overhead. And when the expected returns didn’t materialize, Unity was forced to pull back hard.
The layoffs—especially in areas like Wētā and Behavior—were a direct result of this overreach.
Economic Pressure and Market Conditions
Like many tech companies, Unity benefited from the pandemic surge—but once that boom faded, financial performance couldn’t keep up with investor expectations. With slowing ad revenue and increasing competition from rivals like Unreal Engine, the company had to prioritize profitability.
The January 2024 layoffs—cutting 25% of staff—were part of a larger shift to reduce costs and focus on Unity’s core business, which had become too bloated to sustain.
Developer Backlash and Trust Breakdown
Perhaps the most damaging factor was Unity’s Runtime Fee fiasco in late 2023. The policy, which aimed to charge developers per game install, sparked industry-wide outrage. Indie devs—Unity’s core user base—threatened boycotts, demanded answers, and many began migrating to other engines.
Even though Unity walked the policy back, the fallout was severe. CEO John Riccitiello resigned, and the company’s reputation took a major hit. The layoffs that followed weren’t just financial—they reflected a need to reset internally and win back the community.
Internal Reorganization and Leadership Changes
The frequent leadership changes, shifting priorities, and repeated layoffs also point to a lack of internal alignment. Unity’s leadership tried to pivot too quickly between becoming a game engine, an ad platform, and a creative tech company. That lack of clarity led to constant restructuring—and by 2025, entire teams were disbanded with little warning.
Impact of Unity Layoffs on the Gaming Industry
Unity has long been one of the most widely used game engines in the world—especially among indie developers, mobile studios, and small to mid-sized teams.
So when Unity lays off over 3,000 employees and walks back major product decisions, the impact doesn’t stay within company walls. It spreads across the entire ecosystem.
Erosion of Developer Trust
The most immediate consequence has been a breakdown in trust between Unity and its developer community. The Runtime Fee policy and subsequent layoffs sent a clear message: Unity’s leadership was prioritizing short-term revenue over long-term relationships.
Even after the policy was revised, the damage lingered. Many devs began to view Unity as unstable and unpredictable, causing studios to reevaluate their tech stacks, delay projects, or begin migrating to competitors like Unreal or Godot.
Shift Toward Alternative Engines
Unity’s layoffs—and the turmoil around its pricing—accelerated a growing trend: developers exploring alternatives.
While Unreal Engine is already well-established in AAA development, smaller studios are increasingly looking at Unity alternatives and open-source tools like Godot, which offer transparency and community control.
This shift may not dethrone Unity overnight, but it’s chipping away at its dominance, especially in mobile and indie sectors where trust and consistency matter more than brand recognition.
Innovation Setbacks
The cuts to teams like Wētā Digital and Behavior represent more than just lost jobs—they’re also a loss of innovation. These teams were building cutting-edge tools for VFX, real-time creation, and AI-driven NPC behavior. Their dismantling signals a step back from Unity’s more ambitious, creator-first vision.
In a time when studios are hungry for powerful, flexible tools, Unity is shrinking its offering. That’s creating gaps other platforms could move in to fill.
Talent Flood and Market Saturation
With over 3,000 Unity employees laid off since 2022, the job market has seen a huge influx of experienced talent. While that might be a silver lining for studios looking to hire, it also means intense competition for open roles—and a tough environment for junior devs trying to break in.
It’s also prompting more laid-off workers to form their own studios or go indie, which could spark a wave of new, creatively driven projects in the coming years—though funding and support remain challenges.
What’s Next for Unity?
As Unity steps into 2025, the company appears poised for growth, aligning with broader industry trends. Analysts project that global IT spending will grow by 9.3% in 2025, with data center and software segments expected to grow at double-digit rates. Unity’s strategic focus on its core engine, coupled with its expansion into sectors like automotive interfaces, positions it to capitalize on these growth opportunities.
However, challenges remain.
Unity must continue to rebuild developer trust, ensure the successful adoption of Unity 6, and effectively manage its financial strategies to achieve profitability. The company’s ability to navigate these challenges will determine its trajectory in the competitive market in 2025 and beyond.
Data Sources
- The Wall Street Journal, 2023. Unity Conducts Its Third and Largest Round of Layoffs in a Year
- EuroGamer, 2023. Unity lays off almost 300 staff
- The Verge, 2024. Unity is laying off 25 percent of its staff
- The Verge, 2025. Unity’s struggles continue with fresh wave of layoffs
Comments