Playtika, a game developer company, is making massive layoffs. According to Globes, about 800 employees around the world will be fired. According to AIN.Capital‘s sources, the cuts will also affect the Ukrainian R&D offices, where a total of over 100 people can be laid off.

  • Playtika is a Ukrainian-Israeli company that became a pioneer of developing games in the social casino genre. It was sold to the owner of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for $250 million. And then to a consortium of Chinese companies led by GIANT for $4.4 billion. Two years ago, the company went public.
  • In Ukraine, the company has offices in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Vinnytsia. By 2021, the number of employees in Ukrainian offices reached 1,000 people. In total, the company has 4,100 employees worldwide.
  • The company is currently conducting large-scale downsizing. According to Globes, between 600 and 800 employees worldwide will leave Playtika next week.
  • The reductions are due to a 3-fold drop in the price per share on the NASDAQ exchange compared to October 2021. And also because of the decision of the private firm Joffre Capital to withdraw from the deal of acquiring 25.7% in Playtika for $2.2 billion. It was discussed back in the summer.
  • It is known that 180 people will be laid off at Playtika’s central office in Israel.
  • As Playtika informed AIN.Capital, the company will cut 15% of its staff in Ukraine. According to information in the letter sent to all employees today by Playtika CEO Robert Antokol (the text of the letter is in AIN.Capital’s possession), the company plans to cut 15% of the global team, too. It will abandon a number of projects, focusing on key fast-growing games.

“Ukraine remains an important place for Playtika. We are parting ways with some exceptional team members and recognize the tremendous value and contributions they have made toward Playtika’s position as an industry leader in mobile entertainment. Through compensation, benefits and services, we are taking steps to make their transition easier,”

Shlomi Aizenberg, Chief Operating Officer of Playtika, comments.
  • Back in 2021, the company’s plans to reduce the office in Dnipro became clear: some of the employees were offered to move to Bucharest to Playtika’s Romanian office, while some were to leave the company in the first quarter of 2022.
  • These are not the first cuts in Ukrainian Playtika this year. In May, it was reported about the downsizing of the Kyiv studio House of Fun. Another reduction of the Ukrainian office took place in November 2021. But at the moment there is still no talk of a complete shutdown of the Ukrainian office.
  • Earlier in its quarterly report in 2021, Playtika noted offices in Ukraine, Romania, and Belarus as “risk factors”. It is known that the largest state of these three countries is in Ukraine. Playtika has 600 people in Belarus, 500 in Romania.
  • Interestingly, the Playtika office in Minsk is still open. And Playtika is probably the last one of the big companies that still hasn’t left the Republic of Belarus.