Big Fish Games to cut 15% of staff including several VPs
Operator to refocus efforts on social casino and casual gaming following Aristocrat takeover
Big Fish Games is reportedly to cut 15% of its staff, according to a leaked internal memo, as it looks to shift its business model to focusing entirely on social casino and casual gaming.
In a memo obtained by GeekWire, sent to members of staff on Tuesday, Big Fish CEO Jeff Karp said the company was “doing fewer things better, to be bigger,” and that it would be “sharpening our focus to only develop social casino and casual games — genres where we have earned the right to lead the market.”
Among those leaving the business are several C-level executives, including vice-president of operations, Omar Amin, VP of advertising Kathryn Ficarra, VP of engineering Steve Galic, VP of licensing Paul Handelman and vp of studios Pat Wylie. In addition Jina Heverley, Big Fish’s finance director, has confirmed her retirement.
Big Fish Games was acquired by Aristocrat in November 2017 for $1bn having only been bought by its previous owner Churchill Downs for $885m in 2014.
The memo confirms that going forward, the company will operate four games studios and will create a new publishing business that “will help every game optimize its full potential through strong functional expertise in marketing, product management, operationalizing data and building brands.”
In addition a new cross-functional team will be created to “drive prioritization and enable studios to make great games”. As part of this, Big Fish have promoted Katie Leggett to vp of operations, insights & user experience while promoting Stephen Dunn to the post of senior director of developer relations & licensing.
Karp said that the moves would put Big Fish“ on a path to unlock the full potential of the business and to become a top 10 game company in the world.”