Gree International Entertainment is laying off an unspecified number of staff at its San Francisco offices as a part of ongoing restructuring, despite showing quarterly sales growth in February – the first time the company has managed to do so in four years.
Gree International is the overseas division of Gree, Japan’s big mobile game publisher. The company makes mobile games such as Modern War, Crime City, and Dragon Soul.
Gree hasn’t indicated what percentage of the Bay branch’s staff are being made redundant, but has indicated that the office will be primarily functioning as a marketing and post-launch support office after its restructuring.
The company issued the following statement:
“Today, Gree International Entertainment announced that the company is restructuring its San Francisco office, which includes a reduction in workforce. This reduction is due largely to the fact that we, like many other companies in the mobile games space, are expanding our development efforts in international markets.
“These are challenging times and it’s always hard to say goodbye to such great people who have helped make Gree an amazing place to work. We thank everyone affected for their hard work and wish them nothing but the best of luck in their future endeavors.”
Meanwhile, Gree is developing its next major title, for launch in the summer of 2017, in Melbourne, Australia, with strategic and creative guidance from San Francisco and participation from the Berlin office.
