Big layoffs at GOG. Employees highlight the company's internal problems [ONLY HERE].
According to our sources, in October 2024 alone, 20-30 people - up to one-fifth of all employees - lost their jobs at GOG, a Polish game sales platform. Previously, layoffs occurred regularly every two to three years, and annual turnover is estimated at 30% of the entire workforce.
GOG is a subsidiary of CD Projekt, and for years it was associated as a store for retro title games, in addition to being free of DRM protection (sometimes slowing down the computer), which is troublesome for many people. After a wave of layoffs in early Fall 2024, employees of the company - former and current - began to report to our editorial team and told us about its problems.
According to our sources, 20-30 people lost their jobs in October 2024 alone - up to one-fifth of all employees. Previously, layoffs occurred regularly every two to three years, and annual turnover is estimated at 30 percent of the entire workforce. We tried to verify this information with the company's managing director, Maciej Golębiewski.
When asked by us about layoffs and their scale, he replied: “GOG regularly adjusts the structure to its strategy and ongoing projects, sometimes this means eliminating some roles - as has happened recently.”
Good Old Games
The history of GOG goes back to around 2008. At that time, the Steam store was already doing well and was growing into a major player in the digital game distribution market. Piotr Karwowski came up with the idea of creating a competing platform that would focus on offering older, cult titles - unavailable for purchase or not adapted to the latest versions of Windows. That's where the company's name came from: GOG is an acronym for Good Old Games, or “Good Old Games.”
One of the first manufacturers interested in cooperating was Interplay, responsible for releasing the legendary Baldur's Gate I and II (25 years earlier it was on sales of “the one” that CD Projekt built its first big success) or the first Fallouts. In time, French giant Ubisoft joined in, and then it went downhill. In addition to the really vintage titles, GOG also began to offer quite a few novelties, including all parts of The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077. Currently, there are more than 10,000 items in the catalog.
“We had a choice - either we release only the classics, or we devote our efforts to releasing games that are DRM-free, unlike on Steam. We wanted to give players a choice and create a DRM-free place, which meant resurrecting old titles and fighting DRM in newer releases. We knew from the beginning that this would not necessarily be an easy task,” Karwowski explained in an interview with WP Games.
Karwowski stepped down as managing director in 2021. He currently serves on the board of directors of CD Projekt. Even before his departure, Urszula Jach-Jaki and Oleg Klapowski became his close associates. Both are already outside the company: Jach-Jaki joined Larian as head of the Polish studio at the beginning of 2024, while Klapowski has been employed at Techland for almost four years.
When Karwowski left, Jach-Jaki took over the reins. Also in their orbit was Maciej Golebiewski. He joined the company in 2016, right after college. From a junior position, he slowly climbed the corporate ladder to start as managing director in January 2024. Since then, it has been up to Golebiewski and his trusted people to be in charge of the company's development.
Faced with numerous layoffs and turnover in various positions, a cluster of people began to speak out about the company's conditions, including those related to their supervisor.
Ship on Agitated Waters
- Toward Maciej Golebiewski, I have an ambivalent attitude. On the one hand, his passion and commitment are evident, which seem genuine, and are essential for leading a team to achieve business goals. I myself was also satisfied in my cooperation with him during my work at GOG, although it was very sporadic. However, it was always professional and substantive,” the person who said goodbye to the company in early 2024 tells us. - On the other hand, I have doubts about his competence to run such a large project as GOG, especially given his little professional experience. After all, he is very young and was quickly promoted. I have the impression that his position in the company is over the top. Maciej learns as he takes on a new role, and he is not prepared for it when he takes on the role. As a result, his promotion path and taking a leading role so quickly is puzzling to me.
Many of our interviewees wonder why it was Maciej who was given the position. They confirm his passion for working at GOG, but also point out that his limited management experience is all too apparent. The same arguments recur: lack of a coherent vision, transparency and trust.
- During onboarding, we have it drummed into our heads that GOG is an open space where everyone can speak out publicly, we're like a family and that sort of thing,” explains one interviewee. - However, if someone actually says what they don't like or what suggestions they have, that's when they face a conversation with Maciek, and then often termination, he adds.
- I had the opportunity to work with Maciek for several years, first as the lead of a neighboring team, but also later, when he joined GOG's board of directors, describes another interviewee, who is already outside the company. - For a long time I considered Maciek one of the better people in the company. He tried to understand people, took an interest in them and learned about their work, and had an open door policy,” he points out.
And he adds that in his perspective, Golebiewski did not give the impression of someone who had a vision for the company beyond the maxim: “GOG is DRM-free and classics, we need to go back to the roots and focus on that.”
- The form in which this DRM-free and focus on classics was to take place, the strategy was changed quite often, it was created for a long time and in pain,” describes our interviewee.
- The biggest organizational problem is that once you hire a specialist, you don't listen to their comments or suggestions. One wants to do the same thing as before, but at the same time expecting different results, and this, as we know, is not a good direction,” says another source who said goodbye to GOG some time ago. And also points to, in his opinion, the supervisors' trouble with management.
Several of our informants also describe a practice they call “walkouts.” As they explain to us, it all starts with a private message on an internal messenger. Later, the employee has a conversation, usually outside the office, with Golebiewski. There are no triggers or insults, our sources describe it as “subtle intimidation”: pressure is created, accusations of “spoiling the atmosphere,” “negative mindset” and creating confusion by asking the wrong questions.
- In the organization, no one dares to express their opinion. The gap between corporate talk and daily practice was huge, plus everyone sees it, but no one will call it by name. Mainly because a large part of GOG's employees are young people, so it's easy to set them up according to the employer's expectations,” describes another anonymous source.
Good tactics, Poor Strategy
- The basis for evaluating any company's actions is their financial perspective, and only those actions are taken that can be measured by numbers or money. In other words, we do what is profitable, what can bring in the cash, and do it now, not a year from now. This makes sense insofar as it's a private business, it's supposed to make money for itself, but it's short-sighted because it doesn't build a base of engaged users or loyal fans. It also doesn't allow for the acquisition of new audiences, in which you simply sometimes have to invest with no guarantee of money back, you have to take a chance. GOG has been very cautious in this matter recently and has allocated money elsewhere. If I had to briefly summarize it, I think GOG from a financial perspective has worked well tactically, but poorly strategically, and most likely the current business model is running out of steam,” another former employee offers his perspective.
After our conversations with employees, GOG announced that it is starting a Preservation Program to keep games compatible with modern and future systems. In an era of many games being abandoned by developers or even deleted from various platforms and unavailable for purchase, this is news that was received with general enthusiasm. There was also no shortage of skeptical voices.
We asked GOG representatives for comment on the recent layoffs, but also on communicating strategy and communication within the team. We also tried to persuade Maciej Golebiewski to talk to us before publishing the text. We only received the following response: “On these topics I have nothing to communicate.”
If there is new information or a statement from the company or people associated with it, we will keep you updated on cdaction.pl.
