Business

Garena Lays Off Staff

Games publisher Garena, who is behind titles such as Free Fire, has laid off staff from around the world, according to a report from Esports Insider, citing sources.

Per the report (citing sources) “the downsizing movement started in February 2022. Garena began attempting to reform streaming platform BOOYAH! to change its focus. As a result, this shift resulted in BOOYAH! team members being laid off.”

Esports Insider goes on to claim that they contacted Garena back in June to learn about the situation regarding BOOYAK!, and received the following response: “BOOYAH!’s team is focused on delivering new community-focused features and services while evolving our strategies to adapt to new trends in the gaming industry. Some new features will aim to improve how we engage our audiences, and may have some impact on our partnerships with some streamers.”

Garena also had to face challenges related to COVID-19 related to staff hires during the pandemic to handle the significant growth of the Free Fire audience, but as Brazil saw some stabilization from the pandemic, the user base dropped.

Garena provided Esports Insider with a statement regarding the layoffs: “In line with our previously stated focus on enhancing the long-term strength of our ecosystem, Garena is today making some adjustments to certain teams in order to optimise our global operations and better position us for opportunities ahead.

“This will unfortunately impact a number of roles, and we are committed to supporting affected teammates through this process.”

Anthony DiMoro

Covering Content Creators, Twitch, YouTube, Streamers & the digital culture. Anthony has written for publications such as Forbes and the Huffington Post, among others, during his career.