Linden Lab loses 30 per cent of staff

Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, will lay off 30 per cent of its staff.

It would not reveal an exact number of people that would be shed in the layoff, but the US-based company reportedly has more than 300 employees, according to an AFP report.

Linden Lab chief executive, Mark Kingdom, said the plans behind the 'strategic restructuring' also included shifting Second Life into a browser-based virtual world experience and extending into social networks.

To me, the move to take Second Life into social networks is a good one, given the proven popularity of those games on platforms such as Facebook. Whether it's a case of 'too little, too late' for the company remains to be seen, but shedding 30 per cent of around 300 people doesn't bode too well - those kinds of numbers would surely result in some critical talent being put aside.