LogInAround 9% of the company's entire workforce have lost their jobs.
Just as the dust has settled from Unity's latest round of layoffs, another major player in the CG industry has made a "difficult decision" to strengthen its strategy at the expense of its regular employees, and this time, it is none other than the creator and owner of Maya, 3ds Max, Fusion 360, AutoCAD, and numerous other programs, Autodesk.
According to an internal memo shared by Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost with employees, the company's recent round of job cuts has decimated its workforce in a literal sense, affecting around 9% of the staff.
While 9% might not seem like much, considering just how many individuals Autodesk has on the payroll, the layoffs have affected approximately 1,350 employees – more than the entire video game industry combined has lost in 2025 so far. Additionally, Anagnost emphasized that the decision was made by him and the CEO staff, and was not influenced by any third-party pressure.
As for the reasons behind the layoffs, the CEO outlined three main factors. Firstly, Autodesk intends to reshape its Go-to-Market (GTM) organization to "fully benefit" from the changes made to the GTM model in recent years, such as "self-service enablement" and "the adoption of direct billing."
Secondly, according to Anagnost, 1,350 people have lost their jobs so Autodesk could "accelerate investments" in cloud, platform, and – much to the annoyance of many Digital Artists – AI, to stay ahead of its competitors. "We are shifting resources across our GTM, Platform, Industry, and Corporate functions to accelerate investments in these strategic priorities," the CEO said.
Lastly, the move is aimed at enhancing Autodesk's "business resilience" and helping the company remain "competitive, resilient, and future-ready" in a global business environment that is "rapidly transforming due to macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, as well as changing regulations."
"To our team members who may be impacted, I want to extend my sincere appreciation for your contributions to Autodesk. You will always be a part of Autodesk's story, and I am grateful for everything you have done," the CEO's statement reads. "To the team taking us forward, there is nothing easy about saying goodbye to friends and colleagues. I recognize there will be feelings of uncertainty and sadness, but I hope you trust we are making these decisions to strengthen our future and continued success in a competitive sector. I remain grateful for all of you as well.
Throughout Autodesk's history, we have taken decisive actions to drive our business forward – even when they are difficult. This commitment has been paramount to our success over the last 40 years and remains true today. Thank you again for your dedication to Autodesk."
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