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Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

reuters.com

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Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#31

Post by initplus »

Unity are spending too much money to develop far too little. New engine features are almost universally half baked (DOTS, UI mess). They acquire in demand features from the community just to let them wither (pro builder). The only thing that's consistent between different Unity features is how unpolished they seem.

Notably the mess they have made of DOTS seems to have been partially responsible for sinking Cities Skylines 2.

Just points to a mess at the leadership level. Their failed relicensing debacle shows the poor level of judgement of the C suite.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#32

Post by naasking »

monero-xmr wrote: post #25
btbuildem wrote: post #7

Do these layoffs include any of the C-suite / execs / upper management? You know, the people directly responsible for the company's situation? Accountability? No?

I'm c-suite and the most important function of layoffs is to preserve the business as an ongoing concern, preserving what jobs I can. If the business fails, everyone loses their job, which is terrible! Now, if the reason for layoffs is due directly to poor decisions by someone who should not have reasonably made that decision given the variables in front of them, that person should probably be terminated. But layoffs…

I think the point being made is that management costs a business disproportionately more than lower-level employees, so arguably plenty of cuts should be seen there too if cost-cutting were really the only concern. It's just basic statistics if all else is truly equal.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#33

Post by paulddraper »

btbuildem wrote: post #7

Do these layoffs include any of the C-suite / execs / upper management? You know, the people directly responsible for the company's situation? Accountability? No?

> Do these layoff include any of the C-suite

Yes

> The people directly responsible for the company's situation?

Yes

> Accountability?

Some.

> No?

Bruh, I just said yes.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#34

Post by sarchertech »

monero-xmr wrote: post #25
btbuildem wrote: post #7

Do these layoffs include any of the C-suite / execs / upper management? You know, the people directly responsible for the company's situation? Accountability? No?

I'm c-suite and the most important function of layoffs is to preserve the business as an ongoing concern, preserving what jobs I can. If the business fails, everyone loses their job, which is terrible! Now, if the reason for layoffs is due directly to poor decisions by someone who should not have reasonably made that decision given the variables in front of them, that person should probably be terminated. But layoffs…

The vast majority of tech layoffs this year had nothing to do preserving the business as an ongoing concern.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#35

Post by shermantanktop »

monero-xmr wrote: post #25
btbuildem wrote: post #7

Do these layoffs include any of the C-suite / execs / upper management? You know, the people directly responsible for the company's situation? Accountability? No?

I'm c-suite and the most important function of layoffs is to preserve the business as an ongoing concern, preserving what jobs I can. If the business fails, everyone loses their job, which is terrible! Now, if the reason for layoffs is due directly to poor decisions by someone who should not have reasonably made that decision given the variables in front of them, that person should probably be terminated. But layoffs…

This is how I explain senior execs to junior engineers: their job is not to write code or give speeches, it’s almost entirely about making decisions in the absence of perfect information.

That’s an important skill. But it also provides the perfect cover for bad decisions, because “we didn’t know then what we do now.”

So I have little sympathy for the c-level exec who ends up on the wrong side of events as they unfold, because…that’s the gig. If they don’t want unfair blame they can get a different job.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#36

Post by lotsofpulp »

a012 wrote: post #21
starkparker wrote: post #2

Also notable: > Unity will shut down offices in 14 locations such as Berlin and Singapore, pending employee consultation in some countries, and significantly reduce its office footprint for the remaining offices, including in San Francisco and Bellevue, Washington. > Unity will no longer mandate that employees work from offices three a days a week and will reduce "full in-office services" to three days a week in most…

It seems like WFH is a "perk" when company is in cut down expenses mode, and RTO is mandated when it's thriving.

I would have thought it is RTO mandated when you need to reduce payroll and want to incentivize workers to resign, and then back to WFH once that target is met and expenses need to be cut further.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#37

Post by stanleykm »

monero-xmr wrote: post #25
btbuildem wrote: post #7

Do these layoffs include any of the C-suite / execs / upper management? You know, the people directly responsible for the company's situation? Accountability? No?

I'm c-suite and the most important function of layoffs is to preserve the business as an ongoing concern, preserving what jobs I can. If the business fails, everyone loses their job, which is terrible! Now, if the reason for layoffs is due directly to poor decisions by someone who should not have reasonably made that decision given the variables in front of them, that person should probably be terminated. But layoffs…

[dead]

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#38

Post by vore »

monero-xmr wrote: post #25
btbuildem wrote: post #7

Do these layoffs include any of the C-suite / execs / upper management? You know, the people directly responsible for the company's situation? Accountability? No?

I'm c-suite and the most important function of layoffs is to preserve the business as an ongoing concern, preserving what jobs I can. If the business fails, everyone loses their job, which is terrible! Now, if the reason for layoffs is due directly to poor decisions by someone who should not have reasonably made that decision given the variables in front of them, that person should probably be terminated. But layoffs…

It is your job to anticipate the market – you are responsible for all the business decisions! If you're allowed to shrug it off and say "we didn't see this coming, we did the best we can, by the way 3.8% of you are getting laid off because of this but not me, even though I made the calls", well, it sounds like you're just milking the business for yourself until it well and truly goes kaput.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#39

Post by dasil003 »

shermantanktop wrote: post #35
monero-xmr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm c-suite and the most important function of layoffs is to preserve the business as an ongoing concern, preserving what jobs I can. If the business fails, everyone loses their job, which is terrible! Now, if the reason for layoffs is due directly to poor decisions by someone who should not have reasonably made that decision given the variables in front of them, that person should probably be terminated. But layoffs…

This is how I explain senior execs to junior engineers: their job is not to write code or give speeches, it’s almost entirely about making decisions in the absence of perfect information. That’s an important skill. But it also provides the perfect cover for bad decisions, because “we didn’t know then what we do now.” So I have little sympathy for the c-level exec who ends up on the wrong side of events as they unfold…

That’s true, but also keep in mind executives aren’t fired for making bad decisions, they’re fired because the board (or CEO) thinks someone else can do better going forward.

Re: Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in 'company reset'

#40

Post by luaKmua »

initplus wrote: post #31

Unity are spending too much money to develop far too little. New engine features are almost universally half baked (DOTS, UI mess). They acquire in demand features from the community just to let them wither (pro builder). The only thing that's consistent between different Unity features is how unpolished they seem. Notably the mess they have made of DOTS seems to have been partially responsible for sinking Cities Sky…

No love for Unity here, their licensing debacle was horrendous, but I've seen no indications that DOTS is responsible for CS2 perf issues. Everything I've seen points to other things lacking in the engine (a decent LODing system for example), general optimization issues that'd be present in any game shipped too early, and inefficiencies in the rendering pipeline.
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