It wasn't just the hardware team, there were quite a few surprises that day.

epsylon · on July 10, 2013

Yep, Tom Forsyth (https://twitter.com/tom_forsyth), who was working on VR support in TF2, got laid off in the same period of time.

(Turns out he's now working for Oculus VR.)

heuan · on July 10, 2013

Information on the other surprises?

talmand · on July 10, 2013

Jason Holtman: one of the main guys responsible for Steam

Tom Forsyth: already mentioned, VR for TF2

Moby Francke: art lead for TF2

Realm Lovejoy: one of the Narbacular Drop people which turned into Portal

Plus a few others that have been there since the beginning, what you would call the core of the company.

Without knowing details it's impossible to know if they were justified or not, but they are surprising because their resumes suggest these aren't slackers.