Playtika has made another round of layoffs, with as many as 160 jobs cut across its Best Fiends and Redecor teams, we’re told.
We asked Playtika to clarify how many staff were cut before the publication of this story, but the firm declined to comment. We will update this story with more detail if Playtika does comment.
Many former Playtika staff based in Poland and Israel posted about the layoffs on LinkedIn earlier today. The cuts span across development, engineering, level design, art and QA.
One source suggested that their team of over 200 is now down to around 40. Another said “at least” 80 jobs were cut in Playtika’s Polish offices alone. Contractors and staff in Israel have also been affected.
The fresh layoffs follow a reported 50 layoffs at Playtika-owned Wooga last month. The job cuts at the Berlin-based studio were related to the cancellation of Claire’s Chronicles: Solitaire. Wooga also could not confirm the number of staff cut when asked.
Best Fiends creator Seriously was acquired by Playtika for an undisclosed fee in 2019. As we revealed in October 2022, Playtika later closed Helsinki-based Seriously and moved the game’s production to Israel and Poland. Appmagic figures suggest Best Fiends’ revenue has been in steady decline since March 2022, when Playtika was pulling in an estimated $8m per month in IAP. Last month, Appmagic estimates the game generated just over $3m for its publisher.
Playtika acquired fellow Finnish studio Reworks, maker of Redecor, for up to $600m in August 2021. As we reported in February 2023, the acquisition has been troubled, with Redecor revenue in decline and all of the Reworks founders – Ilkka Teppo, Aaro Väänänen, Jarno Heikkinen, Jarno Fabritius and Miika Fabritius – no longer at the company.
