Update: The Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA) union has taken to Twitter to comment on the layoffs at SEGA of America.
You can read their statement below. SEGA has yet to respond to multiple requests for comment.
“A few months ago, Sega management announced their plan to outsource QA and part of localization in a move that would significantly impact our workforce,” the union said. “We’ve been fighting back on these terms since then, but today the layoff that will result in the loss of 61 jobs across these two departments was made public.
“Through our union efforts, we’ve been able to more than double the number of saved jobs, and to offer severance to our temp worker. This, however, does not take away from the fact that many of our coworkers are being laid off in a decision we believe will have a negative impact on the working conditions of those who remain with the company, and in the quality of our future games.
“In spite of this, we remain committed to fighting for our coworkers, and for the betterment of our industry. In the face of mass layoffs that continue to happen across gaming companies, we stand united and in solidarity with those affected.”
Original: SEGA of America is set to layoff 61 employees in March.
The news was broken via an automated Twitter bot that posts the latest Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices.
According to the notice, the 61 employees will be let go as of March 8. So far SEGA of America hasn’t commented on the cut backs.
It’s also currently unclear if the layoffs have to do with the company’s supposed plan to “phase out” temporary employees by February. The proposed move is one that the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA) union was against at the time of the proposal.
Insider Gaming has reached out to both SEGA of America and AEGIS-CWA for comment on the layoffs and will update this story should a response be received.
For more Insider Gaming, read about the tensions and turmoil within Ubisoft.
