In a public letter shared via LinkedIn on Monday following notification of mass redundancies to shareholders, Mighty Kingdom CEO David Yin said it was an “extremely challenging decision” to lay off 28 per cent of total staff.

Yin, who was appointed CEO earlier this year, said all departing team members have received a full entitlement package, an agreed redundancy package, company support, industry connections, and access to “MK’s freelance and future opportunities pool”.

The company also shared a list of staff made redundant as part of the company’s “rightsizing”, showing at least 14 people have lost their jobs. This includes staff from the art department, backend developers, game designers, programmers and workers in quality assurance.

The company noted that the list does not show the total number of staff laid off, as certain redundant workers did not want their data publicised.

The CEO of Mighty Kingdom – a video game developer founded in 2010 and listed on the ASX in 2021 – said there was “no easy way to ‘rightsize’ a company”.

“We are committed to working respectfully with all our staff through this process,” said Yin, who is Mighty Kingdom’s third CEO since January 2023.

“We want those who are leaving us to feel supported and those staying to understand why we needed to make these changes.

“We are committed to having open conversations with our team to work through this difficult time.”

After the company notified the ASX about the redundancies, shares in the company dropped by 20 per cent to fresh all-time lows of $0.004 per share.

Shares in Mighty Kingdom are now down 96.67 per cent from the price the company listed at in 2021: $0.12 per share.

At the beginning of 2024, the company’s shares were worth 1 cent, meaning the drop since then is about 60 per cent.

Before making its ASX debut, Mighty Kingdom was the recipient of a $2 million grant from the state government which was used to create a games development hub and up to 500 jobs.

Yin said yesterday the redundancies were implemented to “ensure Mighty Kingdom continues to operate and employ people into the future”.

“We want to ensure our business reaches profitability as soon as possible to protect as many jobs as we can. This is as much about saving jobs as it is about reducing our workforce,” Yin said.

“We are working with our impacted staff to assist in transitioning them into other roles within or outside the industry. Our people are highly talented and are the backbone of everything we do.

“We never wanted to find ourselves in this position, and we have exhausted all possible avenues to avert these changes. We are committed to moving forward with transparency and care for everyone involved – our team, our players and our partners.”

He added that all work on original IP games remains on hold until it “appropriately fits into the new strategy”, and that the creation of an AI gaming lab would be the company’s focus in FY25.