100 Thieves is laying off 20 percent of its staff as it focuses on ‘core’ of esports and apparel

Another big esports brand is making some major changes. 100 Thieves, which already announced layoffs in January, is laying off more staff and spinning out its internal game development studio and its Juvee energy drink, 100 Thieves president and COO John Robinson said in a Thursday thread on X (formerly Twitter). The cuts impact roughly 20 percent of the company’s employees and primarily affect Juvee and the game development studio, Robinson tells The Verge. (Robinson wouldn’t confirm a specific number of employees affected.)

“During the esports franchising era, we saw tremendous growth in our esports business and our brand and were fortunate to be able to make investments beyond that core,” Robinson wrote on X. “As the economic landscape has changed over the last two years, the growth of our business did not keep pace with the growth of our organization. We cannot afford as large of an organization as before and that responsibility falls on me and Matt.”

Moving forward, 100 Thieves will focus on its esports teams, apparel, and online content, Robinson said in another post. Juvee will be spun out over the next three months, while the game development studio will be spun out immediately, Robinson tells The Verge. (The X account for Project X no longer exists on the platform; 100 Thieves announced the game in June 2022.) On X, Robinson promised that “we’ll share more updates on these businesses over the coming months.”