Gree to lay off 30 per cent of Western staff

Japanese publisher Gree has announced that it is axing 30 per cent of its Western workforce at its San Francisco office.

The firm hasn’t confirmed just how many jobs will be lost, just that 30 per cent of the workforce.

This is likely the result of what the firm’s Western COO Andrew Sheppard said in May of this year – that the company was struggling to compete with the likes of mobile hits like Clash of Clans, and that resources had been stretched to their limit.

In a statement from Sheppard – as reported by Venture Beat – the company said: Today we made the difficult decision to reduce the workforce of our Gree International Inc. business by 30 percent. This was done to better align operations with our development goals and business strategy. Several teams in San Francisco were impacted — we are working closely with each and every person to ensure the smoothest transition possible. Offices in other locations were not affected.”

This isn’t the only cuts the firm has seen recently. In May of this year it closed its Vancouver studio, while in 2013, it shut its UK office.