Bengaluru, India-based gaming and entertainment streaming platform Loco has laid off some of its staff this week, as the company adjusted its business model following a strategic review.
A representative from Loco told The Esports Advocate on Thursday that the company has laid off approximately 40 of its 110 employees, or 35% of its workforce. Loco confirmed that around 70 employees remain at the company.
Loco CEO Anirudh Pandita issued the following statement to TEA:
“As part of our recent strategic review, we decided to lean into the early success we have seen with transaction-based monetization on Loco, where we hit over 100k paying users in under 60 days and are seeing a high % of MAUs turn into paying users on the platform. This new focus also necessitates that we work with a leaner operating structure and therefore, we had to part ways with some of our team members yesterday. This is a decision that has been taken to ensure the long-term health of our company, but it is also a decision that has been made with a very heavy heart. The people impacted are extremely talented and have worked tirelessly in their own function areas over the past few years. We are grateful for the time and effort that they have contributed to the Loco journey. We’re also committed to supporting each of these team members during this period. We will provide financial assistance, ongoing health coverage, and outplacement services to each impacted team member.”
A spokesperson also told us that affected employees are providing transitional assistance to affected employees including “financial support/severance, ongoing health insurance, and outplacement services.”
“We are grateful for the time and effort that each one of these individuals has contributed to the company and will be working with them to ensure they have a smooth transition to new and fulfilling career roles,” the spokesperson added.
As for specifics on why layoffs were needed, the spokesperson said that, following a strategic review, the company determined that “transaction-based monetization” was scaling better than the “ad based monetization” and informed the decision to focus on the former, and move away from the latter, adding that the reorganization was not based on “employee performance at all and was driven by the new organizational structure created to support the new direction of the company.”
Loco, a division of Pocket Aces, is a live streaming company that streams gaming and esports content in India through a dedicated app and its official website. At the end of August it served as the official broadcast partner for the LAN Playoffs of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) esports tournament, Skyesports Masters. That event was held at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bangalore. It also served as a partner to participating teams including Velocity Gaming, Enigma Gaming, Revenant Esports, Reckoning Esports, Medal Esports, Gods Reign, Marcos Gaming, and 7Sea Esports.