Live streaming platform Twitch has laid off over 400 employees, the company announced in a blog post.
Twitch has stated that the current macroeconomic environment, as well as user and revenue growth not reaching expectations, are the primary reasons for the layoffs.
In the blog post, signed off by Twitch’s new CEO Dan Clancy, the company claimed it made the decision to reduce its workforce in order to run the business sustainably.
The announcement is tied to Amazon’s wider round of layoffs, which has impacted 9000 employees across its multiple divisions. This was Amazon’s second round of layoffs this year, with the company announcing that it would reduce its workforce by over 18,000 in January.
Clancy was appointed to the role of CEO earlier this month after Twitch’s Co-founder Emmett Shear stepped down. Clancy was previously Twitch’s President.
The current economic climate, among other factors, has resulted in various restructurings, closures and layoffs within the esports, gaming and wider tech industry. At the same time as Twitch’s announcement, esports media powerhouse GAMURS Group also let go of an undisclosed amount of staff, including notable journalists and content writers across its portfolio of websites.
An excerpt of Twitch’s blog post stated: “Our mission at Twitch is to empower communities to create, together. You rely on us to give you the tools you need to build your communities, stream your passions safely, and make money doing what you love.
“We take this responsibility incredibly seriously and sometimes need to make extremely hard decisions to ensure we protect our business in order for Twitch to be around for a long time.”
According to Stream Charts, Twitch’s overall average viewership from February 2nd to 9th was 2.7m viewers. In comparison to last year (February 3rd – 10th), this is down from 2.97m average viewers.