Adelaide-based game studio, Mighty Kingdom, has revealed that it’s laying off 28% of its workforce as part of a move to “rightsize” and “streamline” its operations and core business strategy.
Mighty Kingdom shared the news via a message on social media, promising that it had exhausted all other avenues before coming to the decision to lay off this number of staff.
The news comes after a period of unrest at the studio, which has made efforts to raise capital following restructuring and leaderships tussles in recent months and years, and is looking to achieve profitability by the first half of the next financial year – these announced cuts being a part of that effort. A list of a portion of the affected staff has been created to assist in finding them new positions elsewhere, and can be found here.
MK’s CEO, David Yin, writes in the message:
“Today at Mighty Kingdom, we face the toughest chapter in our story.
“Since 2010, our passion has been crafting games with heart, touching over 50 million players worldwide with the creativity of our diverse team.
“Last week Mighty Kingdom advised its people of a strategic rightsizing to streamline our operations and prioritise core business to align with our vision for the future. This has resulted in a restructuring of roles and a 28% reduction in our workforce. This decision is made with heavy hearts and we never wanted to find ourselves in this position and we have exhausted all possible avenues to avert these changes.
“We highly recommend each of the incredible professionals we’ve had to part ways with, they have contributed significantly to our success over the years.
“If you can assist or hire, please consider reaching out to them.
“We have created a resource to showcase the incredible talents of our departing team members, which is available below this post.
“While today’s news is sombre, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our mission of creating delightful game experiences. We continue to support our current titles and eagerly anticipate the exciting developments we have planned in these and future games.
“We are committed to moving forward with transparency and care for everyone involved-our team, players and partners.”
We have created a resource to showcase the incredible talents of our departing team members, which is available here:https://t.co/ix36uUqWWM
— Mighty Kingdom (@MightyKingdom) May 13, 2024
Amidst a seemingly-unbreakable run of layoffs at studios big and small across the globe, it’s especially disheartening to see the impact locally with similar news from some iconic and hardworking Aussies studios like League of Geeks, Torus and others in recent months. We hope those affected are back on their feet soon enough and that the wellspring of creativity and artistry from Australian developers can be allowed to flourish in the future.
