Gamasutra is reporting that Valve has let go of possibly 25 employees. Currently no news site has yet been able to confirm why this has happened.

The main evidence that Gamasutra is using is the Valve employee directory, which has seen the names of 9 people removed from it.

Gabe Newell has made the following statement to Engadget regarding these rumours

“We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't cancelling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here.”

In addition to this, Jeri Ellsworth has posted on twitter that she indeed has been fired from Valve, the tweet can be viewed here. While the reasons for Jeri Ellsworth and the other employees being let go remain shrouded in mystery, it is logical to predict that one or more of the fired employees will be discussing with the gaming press what has happened within Valve and what the reason they were told for having to leave the company’s employment.