A significant amount of job loss is geared to effect British-based video game developer Team17 Digital. According to Eurogamer, the Worms developer will be seeing many leaving, including their very own CEO Michael Pattinson.
Before working at Team17, Pattison worked at PlayStation for eight years as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Platform Planning and Management. Additionally, he also worked at Capcom, and THQ. Pattison later joined Team17 in October 2021 as CEO.
Reports of the restructuring began early Monday morning, where it was reported that staff were warned about the status of their jobs in an internal town hall meeting.
Eurogamer alleged that alongside its CEO, 50 roles are at risk, roles that allegedly make up most of Team17’s QA department. Team17 is reportedly looking to outsource for those roles in the future, which were mainly junior QA analysts. It’s unknown what other departments will be affected by Team17’s restructuring.
A Team17 spokesperson confirmed Pattison’s departure to VG247 following initial reports of the company restructuring.
“In response to the reports concerning the departure of Michael Pattison from Team17, we can confirm we have amicably parted ways with Michael,” said the spokesperson. “We can also confirm that we have sadly entered into a period of consultation today within Team17Digital, with Astragon and Storytoys remaining unaffected by the restructuring plans.”
These are the second layoffs to hit Team17 in 2023. Previously, the developer has let go many within their art and design teams. That said, those who were let go were offered to apply for other positions within Team17.
It’s unknown whether the same sentiment will be given to this latest batch of layoffs. Hopefully, Team17 Digital’s latest restructuring will fix the internal problems they’ve found themselves in.
2023 continues to be an incredibly volatile year for industry jobs. Just this week we’ve seen additional layoffs from Epic Games, Sega, and many others.