Valve rocked by lay-offs

Up to 25 employees have been sacked from Valve in what has been described as a "great cleansing".

Last night, Valve hardware engineer Jeri Ellsworth took to Twitter to say that she had "just been fired". Today, it seems that Valve's sackings may go deeper, with Gamasutra suggesting that up to 25 employees may have been fired — a significant part of Valve's roughly 300-strong workforce.

The Verge has reported that Valve's director of business development Jason Holtman was one of the staff members caught in the move, along with a number of game artists.

Rumours are rife over what might lie behind the decision to cut so many, with the mix of hardware- and software-based sackings offering no clear hint as to Valve's motivations. Valve's move into more of a focus on hardware via the Steam Box has always been expected to create some changes in the company, but the loss of business dev leaders and hardware engineers doesn't seem to support that idea that this has had any impact on the company's employment structure.

The company is yet to formally confirm the firings, although it has removed the names of multiple staff members — including Holtman — from its online directory.

Interestingly, the company still lists multiple job vacancies on its front page.