It’s hard to watch a project as beloved as WordPress get caught in a messy legal feud, but here we are. Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and led by Matt Mullenweg, just announced a drastic cutback in its open-source contributions to WordPress Core. This feels like a big deal—and not in a good way.

For years, Automattic has been one of the biggest contributors to WordPress, throwing over 1,400 developer hours weekly into the project. Now, that’s getting slashed by about 97%. Yup, you read that right. Going forward, Automattic will dedicate just 45 hours a week, focusing mostly on critical updates like security fixes. The reason? Legal drama with WP Engine, a WordPress host that Automattic accuses of not pulling its weight in the open-source ecosystem. I’ve written about the Mullenweg vs. WPEngine war before here and here. It’s really sad to see how this situation evolves to the detriment of the WordPress Open Source project. My last assessment was that the situation was not going to affect normal users, but this development does lead us down that path. Less contributions mean longer wait times for bug-fixes, less work on security, and less innovation in general. While the Automattic blog states their reduced contributions will likely go towards security and critical updates, I still fear that this won’t be enough to keep security up there. I’d recommend everyone currently evaluating WordPress for new projects to consider possible outcomes of this situation. A general recommendation is to always monitor Open Source projects health metrics using tools like GrimoireLab to really see how a project is doing in the long run.

Automattic says it’s aligning its contributions with WP Engine’s, essentially scaling back until the playing field is “fair.” But let’s be real — this feels like a lose-lose situation. Sure, Automattic is redirecting resources to its moneymakers like WooCommerce and Jetpack, but who’s left to keep WordPress Core thriving?

It’s not just about the code; it’s about the spirit of open source. WordPress has always been a community-driven project, and seeing its largest contributor disengage—even partially—hurts. Smaller contributors will have to pick up the slack, but can they fill the void?

Maybe this is just a temporary blip, as Automattic hints that it’ll return once the lawsuits stop. To me, this is a desparate move to get the community to turn againt WPEngine, while the real culprit is Mullenweg himself.