Laid off TSM employee claims less than 10 people left at esports org

A recently laid-off TSM employee took to social media after he was let go, and revealed the esports organization is running a barebones operation.

The esports industry went through a tough period in 2022 and 2023, with many companies and organizations laying off employees or merging with other companies to survive. One of the impacted organizations was TSM, which was at one point the highest-valued esports company, according to Forbes.

TSM went through multiple rounds of layoffs across 2022 and 2023. The company’s CEO Andy ‘Reginald’ Dihn said TSM over-hired and expanded its headcount too quickly. Reginald also said at the time that the current staff is “stronger and more performant.”

The company, however, let go of its Head of Global Social on January 29, 2024, and the former employee said that TSM is now down to just eight workers.

TSM down to less than 10 employees

Duncan Cox, who has worked at TSM for over four years, said in a social media post about his exit from the company that he was one of the few people still left.

“I’m currently in shock and am working on processing it. As the team around me was cut and I inherited more responsibilities, and with only 9 people left working on TSM, I didn’t expect to be next, but here I am,” he said.

Cox goes on to say that he was technically classified as a contractor because he works out of the United Kingdom, and TSM is based in Los Angeles. In November 2023, TSM also lost Stephan Cieplik, its Chief Revenue Officer who was hired in December 2022 to help monetize the brand.

TSM has scaled back its operation since its heyday as an esports company as it only has professional players and teams in five esports at the time of writing. The organization left the title it started in, League of Legends, by leaving the LCS in late 2023.

This news also comes on the heels of multiple layoff announcements across the gaming industry.