NCSoft West lays off 20% of its staff and CEO departs

NCSoft West laid off 20% of its staff on Wednesday, and its CEO Jeff Anderson has parted ways with the company.

A company spokesperson confirmed that the layoffs happened in a statement, but declined to say how many people lost their jobs.

“We can confirm that we laid off approximately 20% of NC West’s workforce today, primarily affecting non-game development positions, as part of a global realignment with our corporate headquarters in Korea. The affected employees have been given severance and access to resources to help with job placement.”

Asked if Anderson was still with the company, NCSoft West said, “Jeff decided that his time at NC had come to a conclusion, and we appreciate his efforts with us.”

That isn’t very helpful in terms of finding out what happened. But we are in the midst of a global economic downturn and many tech companies, as well as some game companies, are cutting back on staff. This week, Electronic Arts said it was shutting down its Industrial Toys game studio amid a shakeup in its mobile gaming strategy.

Anderson joined NCSoft West as CEO in July 2021. At that time, NCSoft West had more than 400 employees in studios in Aliso Viejo, Austin, Bellevue, London, and San Mateo. Anderson had 30 years of leadership experience in the video game industry, having worked in an executive capacity at companies including Electronic Arts, Paramount Pictures, Turbine, Majesco, and Hasbro.

Anderson had worked on titles such as Ultima Online as well as Dungeons & Dragons Online. Based in South Korea, NCSoft was founded in 2001 and it has had big successes such as Aion, Blade & Soul, Lineage, and Guild Wars.