Discord, the social chat and messaging startup beloved by gamers, told its employees on Thursday that it would cut 17 percent of its staff, adding to a string of recent job reductions by technology companies.
About 170 jobs will be affected by the layoffs, according to an internal memo sent by Jason Citron, founder and CEO of Discord, seen by The New York Times.
“We have to face some hard truths,” Citron wrote. “We are increasingly clear about the need to sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization.”
Discord confirmed the cuts. The layoffs were reported previously by The Verge.
Cuts in the tech industry already this year have included reductions from giants like Google, Amazon and Meta. Gaming companies, in particular, have trimmed their ranks; Twitch, an Amazon-owned streaming service used by many gamers, and Unity Software, a video game software provider, cut their workforces last week.
On Wednesday, Google also laid off hundreds of workers in its core engineering division, as well as those who work on Google Assistant, a voice-operated virtual assistant, and in the hardware division. Amazon also laid off hundreds of workers on Wednesday, not only at its Twitch streaming service but also at its Prime Video service and MGM Studios. Xerox said this month it would cut 15 percent of its 23,000-person workforce.
The cuts signal what could be another tough year for the tech industry, after tens of thousands of employees were laid off last year amid challenging economic conditions and a slowdown in the digital advertising market.
In his note, Citron said the layoffs were the result of overhiring and growing too quickly, as Discord had expanded five times its original size since 2020. As a result, he said, Discord had taken on too many projects and worked less efficiently. . in them.
His reasoning echoed similar statements in the past by tech CEOs, such as Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Spotify's Daniel Ek, who carried out layoffs in the past two years.
