Patreon has reportedly laid off 30 employees, which is supposed to be about 13% of their workforce. The company claimed that this was due to the coronavirus, and how they were adjusting to the economic downturn of the pandemic’s impact.

Techcrunch received a statement from Patreon, who told them…

“It is unclear how long this economic uncertainty will last and therefore, to prepare accordingly, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with 13% of Patreon’s workforce. This decision was not made lightly and consisted of several other factors beyond the financial ones.”

Techcrunch thought the statement and the layoffs seemed suspicious given that back in March the company claimed that they were doing well and that there was not an exodus of patrons from the platform.

However, the company has been attempting to court some of the patrons they banned from the platform earlier for some nebulous manner of violation or another. TheQuartering did a video back in January about how Patreon was sending out letters to those who had previously been on the platform to come back.

Even if what Patreon says is true – that income for creators was 60% higher in March than previous months – and that churn rates are stable, then they’re still being affected by the deadly kiss of Mistress Corona-chan, and even if they didn’t go broke from getting woke before, they might now.

We’ll see if they’re still touting their horn in the next quarter and whether or not they’ll have to continue to lay off staff in the process. But given that they’re now targeting artists who draw anime characters, and have already banned or lost many of their other higher profile members, I can only imagine that it’s just a matter of time before they have to overhaul or close up shop.

(Thanks for the news tip durka durka)

(Main image courtesy of Princess Hinghoi)