GamesBeat can confirm that mobile-games developer Glu Mobile has laid off staff in two offices and has shuttered its São Paulo office in Brazil.
Glu cut its workforce in its Kirkland, Washington-based studio by 25 percent and its San Francisco-based office by 5 percent. A Glu Mobile spokesperson provided the following statement:
“As mentioned during our earnings call on November 2, Glu will be holding total R&D investment flat between 2012 and 2013. In order to do so and increase our monetization oversight we must rebalance our R&D function globally. Today we enacted a restructuring which has led to our President of Studios assuming direct control of our Kirkland office. As part of this global studio rebalancing we have reduced headcount by approximately 25 percent in Kirkland and 5 percent in San Francisco. In order to enhance Glu’s global development efficiency and promote continued growth, we will also be closing our Sao Paulo office and concentrating resources in our other six locations. Over the coming 12 months we will be adding the necessary monetization and server-side research-and-development resources to support our focus on increasing average revenue per daily active user company-wide.”
Glu Mobile is a mobile developer that often works with larger publishers to create mobile versions of their games. It has released smartphone entries in the Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and Sonic franchises.
As noted in the statement, Glu provided a lowered guidance for 2012. Analysts expected Glu to report revenues of $26.6 million in its fourth quarter, but Glu believes it will only bring in between $19.5 million and $20.5 million. This weak outlook comes due to gamers moving on from arcade-style games on mobile in favor of player-versus-player style competitive games.