Big Fish Games is slashing its workforce in an effort to tighten its focus and stay competitive in a grueling marketplace. Those impacted by the move range from ground-level programmers to high level executives.
The Seattle-based social gaming company made the layoff announcement via an internal memo which was promptly leaked to the website, GeekWire. In the memo, company officials discussed a new direction that puts more emphasis on social gaming and much tighter focus. Jeff Karp, the Managing Director and President of the company told employees in the memo:
We’re doing fewer things better, to be bigger. We are sharpening our focus to only develop social casino and casual games — genres where we have earned the right to lead the market.
In Karp’s vision, the newly stripped down social gaming machine will be incredibly competitive in the market and he hopes to see it become a, “top 10 company.”
But getting to the top while carrying a lot of weight isn’t the easiest thing in the world, so Karp is lightening the load. Just how many people will be losing their jobs in that effort isn’t quite clear. The memo states that about 15 percent of the staff will be let go. Most credible estimates suggest that Big Fish Games has about 735 employees and about 600 of them work in Seattle. If the 15 percent number is accurate, that means that about 110 people will be losing their jobs.
Big Fish Games was purchased last year by Aristocrat Games for just under $1 billion.