Valve Axes 13 Employees Primarily Affecting Its VR Division

Activision Blizzard recently announced that it would be laying off 800 workers, even though it had generated a near record in quarterly revenue. The company noted that despite the big revenue for the quarter, it hadn't lived up to its potential. Another company in the gaming segment has announced layoffs, albeit on a much smaller scale: Valve.

Valve has announced that it will shed 13 workers, some of them working in its virtual reality segment. Valve has acknowledged the layoffs and stated that the workforce reduction doesn't mean that the company is planning any drastic changes in direction. Valve's spokesperson told Variety that it was not abandoning virtual reality.

The spokesperson noted that in addition to the 13 full-time employees who were let go, a portion of its contractor agreements were terminated. Exactly how many contractors were shed is unknown. Valve's spokesperson noted that layoffs are "an unfortunate part of business" and went on to thank the workers who were let go for their contribution.

ohai :) so as of 7 Feb I'm no longer doing VR at Valve - if I left your question unanswered or your bug unfixed, DM or natbro@gmail.com - happy to help connect you with good folks still there! kthxbye!

— Nat Brown (@natbro) March 7, 2019

One of the workers caught up in the layoffs is Nat Brown; he noted via Twitter this week that he was no longer doing VR at Valve as of February 7. It seems the layoffs might have occurred weeks ago and only now become known. VR and AR haven't taken off as quickly as some in the gaming industry expected, but that hasn't stopped some big gaming industry names from stepping into the segment. Nintendo recently stepped into the VR market with the Nintendo Switch and a new Labo VR kit that lets gamers build cardboard devices that work with the Switch and a cardboard VR headset. Nintendo's full VR kit will launch April 12 for $79.99 with smaller kits launching the same date for $39.99 to $19.99.