HR / Company news

Stability AI, the company that created the neural network for generating Stable Diffusion images, has reduced 10% of the staff, or about 20 people. This is reported by CNBC with reference to a letter for employees.

In October 2023, Frontier Developments announced its decision to reduce staff. In a conversation with GLHF, several former and current employees of the company called the dismissal process extremely disrespectful.

In a report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Take-Two Interactive announced the launch of a cost-cutting program. As part of it, the publisher will lay off 5% of the staff by the end of the year.

The British publisher Team17 has published a financial report for last year. We have chosen the main thing.

The British publisher Kwalee has also taken up layoffs. The company has started restructuring, as part of which it has cut several dozen employees.

Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch has opened up about the company’s split from Embracer Group. He also tried to explain why the Swedish holding company shouldn’t be viewed as the “evil empire.”

Journalist Stephen Totilo from Game File spoke with Michael Douse, head of the publishing department at Larian Studios, about the current state of the gaming industry. We chose the main thing from the interview.

Michael Douse, director of publishing at Larian Studios, has opened about the current state of the games industry. He touched on topics such as mass layoffs, marketing, Steam vs. consoles, and Early Access.

At the end of March, SEGA announced the sale of Relic Entertainment, and a week later, the studio underwent massive layoffs. According to producer Robyn Smale, Relic Entertainment has fired a total of 41 people.

Ubisoft continues to reduce staff. This time, she laid off several dozen employees from the global publishing and Asia-Pacific divisions.

For the gaming industry, March was a quieter month in terms of layoffs than January and February, but hundreds of people were still out of work. According to the Game Industry Layoffs portal, gaming companies laid off 628 employees last month.

Gearbox Entertainment has conducted a round of layoffs after announcing its sale of Take-Two Interactive for $460 million. This is reported by the Game Developer portal with reference to the publications of former employees of the company on social networks.

SEGA continues to restructure. As part of it, the company sold Relic Entertainment, best known for the strategies of Company of Heroes, Age of Empires IV and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.

The Japanese Kadokawa Corporation is making a generous gesture. She is going to distribute promotional options worth 5.3 billion yen, or about $35 million at the current exchange rate, to employees of her subsidiary studio FromSoftware.

The head of Larian Studios, Sven Vincke, criticized the heads of gaming companies for mass layoffs at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony. He called the constant pursuit of profit the root of the problem and called for breaking the vicious circle.

Swen Vincke has criticized executives who lay off devs and act from a position of greed, caring only about their revenues and profits. Speaking at the Game Developers Choice Awards, the Larian Studios head noted that this vicious cycle needs to be broken.

At the beginning of the week, Sensor Tower announced the purchase of an analytical company data.ai . It became known that after the deal data.ai She cut about 200 employees.

Dwarf Fortress co-creator Tarn Adams has commented on mass layoffs that are plaguing the games industry. And it is obvious that he can’t sympathize with the executives responsible for these decisions.

Velan Studios, known for the AR racing game Hot Wheels: Rift Rally and the now-closed multiplayer action game Knockout City, has laid off some of its staff. This is stated in the publications of former studio employees on social networks.

As Electronic Arts’ recently announced restructuring gains momentum, even developers working on the company’s most successful games are not safe. It appears that Respawn Entertainment has been hit with layoffs.

At the end of February, Electronic Arts announced a new stage of restructuring and the decision to lay off 670 people. According to IGN, one of the "victims" of the changes in the company was the Respawn Entertainment studio.

As many game companies around the world continue to cut jobs, Capcom has announced its decision to raise salaries for its Japanese employees. The move will impact both current workers and new graduate hires.

Capcom has announced that it will pay more to both current and new employees of Japanese divisions. Their salaries will be increased at different times.

Canadian indie studio Spearhead Games has announced that it is forced to say goodbye to a significant part of the staff. She made this decision because of financial problems.

In recent months, a significant part of the gaming agenda has been layoffs. February was no exception. According to the Game Industry Layoffs portal, over the past month, gaming companies have fired or announced layoffs of at least 2,027 people.

The Chinese 91Act has an amazing fate. A month ago, the studio was ready to close its doors: its CEO Jiang Lei announced serious financial problems and fired all employees. But then the situation suddenly improved.

Mobile developer and publisher Wildlife Studios, known primarily for Tennis Clash and Zooba games, has conducted a new round of layoffs. This time, the company cut 133 employees.

Electronic Arts (EA) continues to restructure its business. The company announced that it will reduce another 5% of its employees, which is about 670 people.

Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) might be another studio to cut jobs this year. The information came from several former employees who said they had recently been laid off.

Gaming companies continue to cut staff. Deck Nine Games studio, known for Life Is Strange: True Colors and The Expanse: A Telltale Series, has conducted mass layoffs for the second time in the last year.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has decided to lay off 900 employees. The move will affect people at various PlayStation studios and divisions.

The head of Sony's gaming division, Jim Ryan, announced mass layoffs. 900 PlayStation employees will be cut, which is 8% of the staff.

A wave of layoffs has reached the authors of Until Dawn. This morning, on February 26, Supermassive Games employees learned that management plans to lay off 90 people.

The Build a Rocket Boy studio, founded by former Rockstar North president and GTA series producer Leslie Benzies, has cut some of its staff. This is reported by the PCGamesN portal with reference to its own sources.

ZA/UM has finally confirmed the layoffs and the cancellation of an unannounced expansion for Disco Elysium. And two former employees, including one of the game’s original writers, also shared more details about the current situation at the studio.

Recently, Sports Illustrated wrote that dozens of ZA/UM studio employees will soon lose their jobs. Now the dismissals have been confirmed by Argo Tuulik, the last screenwriter in the ZA/UM studio who worked on Disco Elysium.

Employees of the Polish Flying Wild Hog studio have organized a trade union that works under the auspices of Związek Pracowników Branży Gier (ZPBG), the union of Polish gaming industry workers. This is the first affiliated studio of the Embracer Group in the ranks of ZPBG.

Dozens of ZA/UM developers are at risk of losing their jobs. The Disco Elysium developer has reportedly shut down one of the unannounced projects that was a few years from shipping.

Embracer Group has released its financial report for the third quarter ended December 31, 2023. The Swedish holding company is approaching the final stage of its restructuring program, which has already resulted in nearly 1,400 job cuts, while also making adjustments to its game development strategy.

The Blackbird Interactive studio once again said goodbye to some of the employees. The layoffs became known shortly after she postponed the release of the Homeworld 3 space strategy from March 8 to May 13, 2024.

Hyper-casual developer and publisher Popcore Games has fired some employees, according to the PocketGamer portal. Among those fired are team leaders.

The 80 Level portal asked more than a thousand gaming specialists about the level of their annual salaries, and also studied the relevant data from analytical companies. He found out how much developers earn in different countries and whether they have enough money for a comfortable life.

In the second half of 2023, IT specialists in Russia earned less than at the beginning of the year. According to Habr Career estimates, the median salary fell the most among game developers — by 28% to 128 thousand rubles.

Take-Two Interactive also reported for the third fiscal quarter, which lasted from October to December 2023.

Microsoft Corporation has responded to a complaint from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about layoffs in its gaming division, a significant part of which falls on Activision Blizzard. She said that Activision Blizzard was already preparing to cut staff.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked the appeals court to look into the situation with mass layoffs at Microsoft. On January 25, the corporation announced its decision to lay off 1,900 people from Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media.

California state laws require companies to inform the authorities about layoffs that take place in local units. Thanks to this, details of the cuts in Activision Blizzard became known.

App2Top talked with Roman Gordy, co—founder of the Arbonum service, about the results of relocation in the gaming industry and the most popular geo among Russian developers.

A wave of layoffs has covered the Polish Artificer studio. According to Kotaku sources, on January 31, Artificer fired 25 people — about half of the staff. In the coming months, she intends to cut another 10-12 employees.

Ubisoft could be the next major game publisher to be hit with mass layoffs. According to a new report, the company will be in trouble unless it changes its strategy and management approach.