Square Enix Los Angeles hit with layoffs

Update: Joystiq has reported that half of Square Enix Los Angeles' marketing department has been let go, which is estimated to be 10 people. Around 20 members of staff were laid off across the accounting, IT, and events departments, with another five to 10 going from community and support. The PR department, which is believed to be roughly seven people, will be reduced by about half after E3 this June. Executives will also be hit with redundancies, including the head of marketing and Square Enix America president and CEO Mike Fischer.

Original story: Square Enix has laid off an undisclosed number of staff at its Los Angeles studio in California, the publisher has confirmed.

In a statement issued to Joystiq, a Square Enix representative said, "We can confirm that Square Enix's Los Angeles office has eliminated a number of positions as part of the corporate restructuring announced last week."

"This is an unfortunate situation and we are offering assistance and severance packages to any employees affected by this, we want to thank them for their hard work and sincerely wish them well in the future."

Square Enix Los Angeles was involved with the publisher's MMO titles, such as Final Fantasy XIV and Wakfu. The studio had previously suffered another round of layoffs back in December 2012.

Former Square Enix president Yoichi Wada resigned last week after announcing an "extraordinary" loss in the publisher's first-quarter financials. The loss was attributed to many of the publisher's games suffering in America and Europe, with the recent high-profile reboot of Tomb Raider failing to hit its sales target, despite selling 3.4 million copies in its opening month.