• Layoffs hit Twitch as company readjusts some departments
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Several people were laid off at Twitch yesterday as the company readjusted certain teams in an effort to reprioritize specific areas, Polygon has learned. Twitch would not confirm how many people were laid off, but sources tell Polygon it was several, probably not exceeding 30. A statement from a Twitch representative said that certain teams were readjusted as the company focused on prioritizing areas that were most significant to the community. The full statement can be read below: 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. https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/979744200123125762 Layoffs hit Twitch as company readjusts some departments It really sucks that these people got told on the day they were losing the job that it was effective immediately. I find it interesting a company like Twitch which is going up in leaps of popularity is able to keep its employee numbers so secret that people just estimate the number between 500-1500.
For more information people this includes are: FishStix, Adam Contini, TosspoT, Justin Wong, and Jon Carnage. These people were the backbone of early Twitch. FishStix is the man and was a heavy voice in being positive about the Overwatch League before the Twitch deal was made. To be fired over a Hangout call is depressing for such veterans of the company.
I guess the higher ups want to focus more on the bigger streamers and events like OW League now, which is weird because over the last few months Twitch has been doing a lot of smaller streamers with some of the stuff they've been introducing.
I learned about a lot of new and smaller streamers from the Twitch channel on Twitch. I think there's a sentiment within the community of the 10k-30k viewer streamers that Twitch has become very distant and tone deaf to the requests from them the streamers other than the regular issues on the development side where features streamers did not want get prioritized and features streamers do want get not prioritized at all (See bits, highlight system, extensions on viewer with a obnoxious reminder to subscribe with Prime etc.) There are streamers starting to think that soon the streamers on the site won't be the product any longer as Twitch moves further ahead with promotion deals of movies (Power Rangers Marathon), showcasing real Sports (NBA G League) and other events with a heavier focus on marketing than the actual enduser of their website.
I miss the old days with SC2 MLG events and hearing DJWheats' voice. Those were the days, I really really miss that.
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