GameStop is reported to have laid off six software engineers, with one stating that there has been “Another big round of layoffs.”
Earlier this year, GameStop underwent massive layoffs in order to achieve “sustained profatibility” following news of low pay, high quotas, and alleged abuse. During this, it was pivoting toward blockchain tech and NFTs, a department that has now reportedly been hit hardest in a new round of layoffs.
According to Axios’ sources and several LinkedIn posts, GameStop has let six software engineers go, though it’s unclear what the true scale of this round may be.
According to a software engineer, GameStop suffered “Another big round of layoffs… E-commerce Product and Engineers… Lots of them.” Another software engineer wrote, “Super sad to say I was apart of the layoffs today at GameStop.” Axios also reports that a Twitter user under a pseudonym posted about being let go.
GameStop’s senior software engineer posted to LinkedIn, “Received the unfortunate news this morning that I was part of today’s layoffs at GameStop. I’m proud of what I built for the eCommerce + Retail tech infastructure during my time there and the opportunity to work with a great team while doing so.”
Tied into the report that the blockchain department was hit hardest is an iOS engineer and blockchain developer’s post: “I had a great time getting to deep dive into Ethereum and learning about many new things in the crypto space.”
GameStop has been coming under scrutiny for a few months now as only in November, it was alleged that it had been leaking customer data such as billing address’ and payment history after accusations were made in September that it was wiretapping customers and creating “secret transcripts” of conversations. Further back in July, staff working at GameStop claimed that it was “daunting [and] demoralizing”.
The initial layoffs were said to be for the “transformation needs” of the company, though it’s unclear why this new wave of layoffs has happened. GameStop’s stock is 500 percent above its price going in 2021, but it has an earnings call tomorrow, so clarity may be provided soon.
