Update (09/25/24): An email penned by Gamurs Group CEO Riad Chikhani and chief content officer Kevin Morris indicates 30 people have been laid off across the company.
The email was shared with Aftermath and outlines a need for Gamurs to restructure its operations to ensure its survival. It suggests the job cuts are part of a “larger reset and re-adjustment of priorities,” which is being made in response to changing Google algorithms.
Chikhani and Morris claim Gamurs will be altering its pay structure for freelance writers to “better reflect the value of longer, more in-depth work” and promised to share more details further down the line. It’s unclear how that will benefit those who lost their jobs, who might simply wonder why they weren’t asked to produce that content instead of being kicked to the curb.
Original story: Gamurs Group, the owner of major publications including Dot Esports, Destructoid, and Twinfinite, has seemingly cut a number of jobs without warning.
Multiple workers impacted by the layoffs shared the news on X and indicated the news came by way of a generic email that some received in the middle of the night.
Former Twinfinite managing editor Tom Hopkins said the email was waiting in their inbox when they woke up. Dot Esports guide writer Andrew Highton corroborated the news and said they were one “many” people laid off by the company.
Emphasizing the sudden nature of the cuts, Destructoid staffer Jamie Sharp said the abrupt termination has left them “absolutely broken.”
“I got an email announcing that Gamurs Group had terminated my employment effective immediately from Destructoid, after just under four years as a staff writer. Two weeks before my third child is due to be born,” they added.
Dot Esports gaming editor Vic Hood noted they were also let go “immediately” and seemingly without notice. “Woke up to an email that I’ve been let go from Dot Esports and Gamurs this morning effective immediately. I’ve just bought a house and I’m getting married next year,” they wrote.
Gamurs Group boasts big numbers—and a reported toxic workplace
Gamurs Group currently owns 17 major publications that attract 66 million monthly readers and 144 million monthly article views. Those figures are plastered on the company website, but despite that apparent success, there have been reports of unrest within the company.
Earlier this year, Aftermath published an extensive report in which employees described working for the company as “hell,” with shifting editorial strategies allegedly leading to rampant burnout and retention issues.
“Everyone is stressed out. Co-workers are randomly getting cut for ‘performance issues’ week-to-week across all sites. The articles are all mindless. The only thing that matters is Google and what Google readers want. Creating a balance between work and life? Impossible,” said one former Gamurs employee, speaking to Aftermath in March.
“Corporate is breathing down everyone’s necks to make sure every single writer is doing four articles a day. Gamurs is now a race to the bottom where every site is at risk of becoming an SEO content farm. The days of actually reporting are over. The acquired sites are losing all semblance of meaning and brand.”
It’s unclear how many people have been impacted by the latest round of cuts. Game Developer has reached out to Gamurs Group for more information.