Rumour: Changyou cuts 100 jobs at 17173.com

One of the interesting differences of the Chinese ecosystem to the west is that many of the most important gaming websites are directly owned by game publishers.

The prime example is 17173.com, which was bought by Changyou (NASDAQ:CYOU) in 2011.

It's one of the largest gaming websites in China and Changyou generates around 10 percent of its revenue from advertising on the site.

The squeeze

However, with its web games such as Wartune and DDTank maturing, the company is seeing its sales plateau.

Its most recent quarter saw game sales down 6 percent quarter-on-quarter, for example. And that seems to be reason for the rumours now spreading that Changyou is cutting back.

According to Marbridge Consulting, it's shedding 100 job, or 15 percent of 17173.com's staff in a bid to reduce overall employee costs.

[source: Marbridge Consulting]