Multi-platform game engine Unity has laid off a minimum of 150 employees from offices worldwide at a time when the ability to use targeted ads is diminishing.

According to posts on Blind – and confirmed by Unity itself – the company has let go of roughly four per cent of its workforce, accouting for around 200 people.

Ad targeting trouble

Whilst Unity has confirmed that layoffs are occurring throughout this week, reports have claimed that previous layoffs took place only one month ago. Despite Unity’s large developer userbase, its revenue is dependent on Unity Ads which are themselves heavily reliant upon mobile. With targeted advertising suffering due to Apple’s privacy crackdown, user acquisition campaigns have been hindered.

The layoffs thus far have impacted Unity employees in Denmark, the US and Canada.

"As part of a continued planning process where we regularly assess our resourcing levels against our company priorities, we decided to realign some of our resources to better drive focus and support our long-term growth," according to a prepared statement from Unity.

"This resulted in some hard decisions that impacted approximately four per cent of all Unity workforce. We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Unity and we are supporting them through this difficult transition."

Adtech company Bango's recent research suggests that nearly a third of gaming app businesses may close due to new ad regulations, and SaaS company Tempr. recently released its report and analysis of the user acquisition landscape post-iOS 14.