Just one day after streaming service Twitch announced it would lay off 500 employees, Discord has joined the parade: The Verge reports that the company will cut 170 jobs, or 17% of its workforce, according to a Discord representative, confirmed to PC Gamer that The Verge's report is accurate.

Discord is a very popular social media platform, but CEO Jason Citron said in a memo sent to employees today that the company's headcount has increased fivefold since 2020 and "as a result, we have taken on more projects and the way we operate . has become less efficient."

"Today, the need to sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to the organization is becoming increasingly clear," Citron said.

"This was a major driving force behind our decision to reduce the size of our workforce.

"While difficult, we are confident that this decision will put us in the best position to continue to build a strong, profitable business that will deliver great products to our users and support our mission for years to come."

Discord does not appear to be facing immediate financial difficulties; The Verge reports that the company has raised roughly $1 billion and currently has over $700 million in cash. However, the company's valuation has skyrocketed, with CNBC reporting a $500 million round of financing, which could reach $15 billion by 2021. A source told The Verge that Discord hopes to turn a profit this year.

Citron concluded the email by saying, "Don't take it personally," hoping that working on Discord will reinforce the idea that "friendships can be maintained and even strengthened beyond the 'walls' of one place."

Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy, reassured everyone that putting 500 people out of work meant that they could "continue to sustainably serve streamers without affecting their ability to support their careers." Of course, it was a rare and shocking moment when the Embracer man described the loss of hundreds of jobs and the closing of several studios as "our way of winning," but even in that context, Citron's message seems remarkably ill-considered. It's a shame they let it go, but I hope they learned something about friendship in the process. [2023 was a terrible year for layoffs in the video game and technology industry, with literally tens of thousands of people laid off from major companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Google, as well as massive cutbacks and studio closures affecting major publishers and smaller studios Unfortunately, 2024 is only continuing that trend so far: last week it was revealed that Surgeon Simulator developer Bossa Studios laid off 19 employees at the end of 2023, and this week alone, 1,800 people from Unity ( 25% of its workforce) and more than 500 from Twitch, representing roughly one-third of its total workforce, C-suite executives seem largely indifferent to the catastrophe they have wreaked so far.