The Israeli mobile games company Playtika is about to cut its 250 employees, about 6% of its workforce. The company will close studios in Montreal, Los Angeles, and London and transfer some activities back to Israel, Globes informs.
- The company has suffered from the rise in interest rates and rampant inflation together with the recovery from the Covid pandemic. This concerns almost every company that benefited from the pandemic, such as e-commerce, delivery, and computer games companies.
- The company wants to close its three studios:
- Seriously Studio, located in Los Angeles, will now transfer the responsibilities of its Best Fiends game to Israel and Poland.
- Lab London, a studio set to diversify the company’s portfolio, will shut down but retain business development in London.
- The Montreal center will also be closed due to the loss of potential with activities moving to Israel.
- The cuts won’t affect operations in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and Romania.
- Playtika has about 4,000 employees worldwide and 1,100 employees in Ukraine, including offices in Kyiv, Vinnytsia, and Dnipro. The company was one of the first to reopen operations after the Russian invasion.
- Although the company avoided layoffs in the war zone in Ukraine, Globes has learned that 50 employees of Playtica’s popular house machine fun app have been transferred from operations under the product and offered alternative projects.
- In comment to AIN.Capital, Playtika’s spokesperson stated that the information about layoffs in Ukraine is incorrect.
Ukraine has always been an integral part of our operation and we have supported our employees throughout these tragic times.
Playtika.
- Despite Western sanctions, Playtika continues to employ 600 people in Belarus. The company is encouraging them to relocate to the offices in Warsaw, with around 300 employees already there.
