Second Life creators cuts 30% of Staff

Second Life creator Linden Lab is to lay off approximately 30 per cent of its workforce as part of major strategic restructuring efforts.

The company’s product and engineering divisions will be combined, its software development teams consolidated in North America, and customer support reconfigured to provide more scalable services.

Linden Lab said that the move will allow it to increase focus on its consumer business “including investments intended to enhance ease of use and participation in its virtual goods marketplace through browser-based and mobile applications”.

According to CEO Mark Kingdon, the restructuring is also designed to help the company achieve two longer term goals – to create a browser-based virtual world experience that eliminates the need to download software, and to extend the Second Life experience into popular social networks.

“We’ve emerged from a two-year investment period during which, among other things, we’ve spent a considerable amount of time improving reliability and the overall user experience,” he said.

“Today’s announcement about our reorganisation will help us make Second Life even simpler, more enjoyable, relevant and engaging for consumers starting with their first experience. It will also enable us to invest in bringing 3D to the web and will strengthen our profitability.

“Ultimately, we want to make Second Life more accessible and relevant to a wider population.”