Twitch layoffs affect around two dozen employees
The Amazon-owned company said it still plans to increase headcount this year.
Despite the continued rollout of new features and highlights like a recent record-breaking stream of Fortnite, Polygon reports that Amazon-owned Twitch laid off around 25 employees today. In a statement, the company said it "conducted team adjustments in some departments" but still has plans to increase headcount by 30 percent this year. Some of the people leaving include well-known names in the Twitch community like VP of community Justin Wong and director of content marketing Ben "Fishstix" Goldhaber.
Twitch:
Coming off the record-setting numbers shared in our 2017 Retrospective, Twitch is continuing to grow and advance with success stories from Overwatch League to Fortnite's milestone-setting streams. In order to maintain this momentum, we have an aggressive growth strategy for 2018 with plans to increase our headcount by approximately 30%. While we've conducted team adjustments in some departments, our focus is on prioritizing areas most important for the community.
I'm overwhelmed by everyone's messages of support 😭 I appreciate each and every one of you more than words can describe.
As for me, pls don't worry. I've got two months to figure out what's next, and turns out esports is doing pretty great in 2018. I'm gonna be fine.— Ben Goldhaber (@FishStix) March 30, 2018
So long, and thanks for all the memes. pic.twitter.com/WIVhGRVnyk
— Justin Wong (@JustinWong) March 30, 2018