5 of 31 company groups whose hiring boards we read have US layoff notices in our records, for 880 workers in the 12 months to Oct 20

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, from public records. Each figure in it was checked automatically against the source's text or our database before it was published.

In the 12 months to Oct 20, 5 of the 31 company groups whose hiring boards we read had WARN notices we hold, the layoff notices filed with US states, covering 880 workers in 12 notices. At the end of Oct 20 the boards of those 31 groups listed 1,812 open roles, and at least 858 roles were posted in the 30 days to then, a floor: the boards were read on 16 of the 30 days, and a role posted and closed between two readings is not counted.1^,2^,3^,4^,5^,6^,7

Counting each group with its companies, Ubisoft had 324 open roles, at least 273 roles posted in the 30 days and 1 notice in the 12 months, covering 93 workers. Sony Group had 227 open roles and at least 120 posted, with 1 notice covering 292 workers. Tencent had 217 and at least 93, with 3 notices covering 150 workers. Epic Games had 71 and at least 27, with 6 notices covering 217 workers. Keywords Studios had 30 and at least 4, with 1 notice covering 128 workers.8^,9^,10^,11^,12^,13^,14^,15^,16^,17^,18^,19^,20^,21^,22^,23^,24^,25^,26^,27

Among groups with no WARN notice we hold, Roblox, Take-Two Interactive and Public Investment Fund list the most open roles: 255, 150 and 138, each counted with its companies.28^,29^,30^,31^,32^,33

Four other groups have WARN notices we hold and no hiring board we read: Amazon and its companies with 6,603 workers in 16 notices, Microsoft and its companies with 1,261 workers in 4, Intrepid Studios with 123 in 1 and Iron Galaxy with 48 in 1. Together that is 8,035 workers in 22 notices. Their hiring is not in the figures, which is not the same as no openings.34^,35^,36^,37^,38^,39^,40^,41^,42^,43^,44^,45

Our records of WARN notices come from 8 US states (California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington), New York's from Jan 6, 2026 only. A WARN notice is a US state filing for sites in that state, whatever a company's boards list, so notices and roles cover different ground. A notice counts for a group only once its match is approved, and the totals are not a count of every layoff. The roles are from the boards of 41 companies in 31 groups; a company that hires through a closed system such as Workday is not read, and an open role is not a hire. Our records of the hiring boards begin on Sep 26, 2026, when the first board was read; no collector run began on Sep 27 to Sep 28, Sep 30 to Oct 5 or Oct 11. The counts are for the end of Oct 20, worked out when this article was written; a posting confirmed or closed later, or a notice approved later, can move a recount by a few.46^,45^,47^,48^,5