Updated at 3:00 p.m. PST with information about Jason Holtman.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":621587,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"A"}']That one company that you never thought would lay anyone off has apparently laid people off.
Valve, the Half-Life developer and operator of the Steam digital-distribution service, reportedly cut jobs in its hardware and Android development departments, according to Gamasutra.
Unconfirmed reports put the total number of Valve employees laid off at around two dozen.
Earlier today, Valve electrical engineer Jeri Ellsworth posted a Tweet that claims she was fired:
Yup. Got fired today. Time for new exciting projects.
— Jeri Ellsworth (@jeriellsworth) February 13, 2013
Separately, Develop reports that Valve director of business Jason Holtman left the company. Holtman was an important part of Steam’s rise to prominence as he dealt with outside studios and publishers trying to distribute their games on the platform.
GamesBeat reached out to Valve for comment, but the company has yet to respond.
Valve is working on its own PC-based hardware, which gamers often refer to as the Steam Box. Ellsworth worked in the hardware department but isn’t talking about specifics.
The depths of the developer’s involvement with the Android platform is unclear. The company released its mobile Steam client on the platform but didn’t announce any other projects for Google’s mobile OS. We also asked Valve how this will affect support for the Steam app on Android.
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We are updating this story as we learn new information.