Japanese mobile and web game developer Gumi wants about 80 employees to accept voluntary redundancies so it can cut staff to “achieve sustainable growth.”
The company spread this news in a press release (via Google Translate) noted Game World Observer and said it reported a net loss of ¥5.9 billion ($37.8 million) for its most recent fiscal year. It turned out that the performance was to blame for this loss Tatar asterswhich delivered “significantly” lower sales than expected.
“In order to ensure sound management and achieve sustainable growth in difficult conditions, including market conditions, it is necessary to review the existing policies and development systems. We are aware of what is there,” reads the translation of the press release.
“In particular, at this time we will not develop original titles that are very risky, and instead will distribute low-cost titles with a high probability of profit, combining our proven game mechanics with powerful IP, as well as developing more custom names. . With this acquisition, we will quickly transition to a system that can consistently generate stable revenue.”
As part of this restructuring, Gumi is offering “voluntary retirement” packages to employees who may find it difficult to “co-exist” with the new business plan. It said the offer would be open to all workers and people could nominate themselves between June 17 and July 5.
Gumi hopes the process will cut around 80 jobs by July 31, 2024. “Employees retiring under this system will be treated as company-initiated retirements and will be provided with special retirement benefits,” it added messages. “We will also provide re-employment support through the out-of-work support campaign for those who wish to do so.”
The total cost of the layoffs is expected to be about ¥100 million. These costs will be recorded as extraordinary losses in the first quarter of the current financial year.
Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese games industry consultancy Katan Games, said this was essentially a “rare” case of layoffs in Japan, where “it’s usually not possible to just fire employees.” “Gumi will offer special retirement packages and other things for employees who then need to ‘resign’, which is often used by Japanese companies in such situations,” he added.