HR / Company news

After Epic Games announced large-scale cuts, rumors about the dismissal of all employees of the Mediatonic studio appeared on the network. However, Epic Games called this information false.

Yesterday, SEGA Corporation announced the restructuring of gaming divisions in Europe, which will affect, in particular, the Creative Assembly. Shortly after, Creative Assembly confirmed that layoffs were planned at the studio.

A letter from the founder and CEO of the company Tim Sweeney (Timothy Sweeney) appeared on the official website of Epic Games. In it, he talked about why the authors of Fortnite and Unreal Engine took up abbreviations.

Bloomberg correspondent Jason Schreier in his profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter) said that Epic Games has begun significant cuts.

The Games Fund led the seed round of financing of the young Polish studio Zakazane, founded by people from CD Projekt and 11 bit Studios. He invested $1 million in developers.

Roblox is another gaming company that has reduced staff. According to TechCrunch, last week she fired 30 people from the team to attract talent to the platform.

Hideki Kamiya, Japanese game designer and one of the creators of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, is leaving PlatinumGames. He noted that it “was by no means an easy decision to make.”

The restructuring of Embracer Group affected another subsidiary studio of the Swedish holding. Now layoffs have taken place in Crystal Dynamics, known for the Tomb Raider series of games.

Genshin Impact developer miHoYo has undergone some internal reshuffle. Cai Haoyu, one of the company’s founders and its largest shareholder, recently stepped down as its chairman.

Layoffs in gaming companies continue. This time it became known about the cuts in the Beamdog studio, which released reissues of classic RPGs like Planescape: Torment and two parts of Baldur’s Gate.

Ascendant Studios, which developed the magical shooter Immortals of Aveum, conducted large-scale cuts. She fired almost half of the employees.

The situation around Unity is getting increasingly chaotic. The company reportedly had to close some of its offices after its decision to introduce per-install fees sparked outrage in the gamedev community and beyond.

The lackluster commercial performance of Immortals of Aveum has left developer Ascendant Studios in a precarious position. As a result, the company had to lay off almost half of its staff.

Visual Concepts studio, owned by Take-Two, has laid off some of its employees. It is unknown how many people lost their jobs.

Respawn Entertainment has just lost an experienced leader. Stig Asmussen, known as the game director of the Star Wars Jedi series, has decided to leave the company.

Embracer Group continues restructuring. The company laid off some of the employees at its subsidiary Rainbow Studios.

A wave of layoffs affected the analytical company Sensor Tower. The TechCrunch portal reports that over 40 people have lost their jobs.

Elisabeth Pellen has resigned as creative director of the pirate action game Skull and Bones. She became the third creative director to leave the game team.

Lesta Games banned employees from working remotely and changed the work schedule, the portal reports dev.by . Since September, developers are required to spend nine hours a day in the office.

On January 1, 2024, the age limit for IT specialists to receive a deferral from conscription will rise from 27 to 30 years. The corresponding order was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a remaster bundle for the classic platformer series from Insomniac Games, has hit a major milestone by selling 10 million copies globally. Let’s take a look at how these figures compare to the original titles.

Embracer Group, which was once on an endless shopping spree, is now dumping its first-party studios as part of the ongoing business restructuring. This time, the victim was Red Faction and Saints Row developer Volition, not to mention layoffs at Gearbox Publishing.

The other day, several former employees of Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) reported that the authors of Star Citizen are conducting mass layoffs. A studio representative in a media commentary called their statements a lie.

The list of gaming companies that have stopped working is getting longer. Polish Black Eye Games has announced plans to close the studio in the coming months.

Gearbox Publishing is another company in the Embracer Group, which suffered from the restructuring of the holding. As the Game Developer portal noted, some of its employees have recently been reduced.

Volition Studio, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary two months ago, is closing.

CD Projekt has released its financial report for the first half of 2023 ended June 30. Despite a decrease in revenue and net profit, the company remains optimistic due to the upcoming release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and the progress on the next Witcher game.

Yesterday, former employees of Blackbird Interactive reported on social networks about mass layoffs. Shortly after that, studio representatives confirmed in a media commentary that they had indeed reduced the staff.

Blackbird Interactive is another game studio that has been recently hit with job cuts. It appears that the Homeworld 3 developer has laid off dozens of people, including some senior staff.

In Blackbird Interactive, large-scale layoffs took place: more than 40 people were fired from the studio. The incident is reported by employees who are out of work.

Earlier this year, Motorsport Games was accused by dozens of employees at its Russian office of not paying them for months. At least two of them have won their lawsuits against the company.

German developer Mimimi Games ceases its work after 15 years of operation. The studio is primarily known for real—time tactical games – Shadow Tactics and Desperados III.

Recall that in January 2023 it became known that the American company Motorsport Games had not paid salaries to three dozen Russian employees since October 2022. In response, part of the team threatened the company with court.

Imagendary Studios, led by a group of industry veterans, has reportedly been hit with mass layoffs, which affected most of its 54-person staff. The company hasn’t announced a single game in its three years of operation.

This was stated on his Twitter page by Thomas Puha, Director of Communications at Remedy.

BioWare has fired screenwriter Lukas Kristjanson. He was one of the oldest studio employees who worked on the first Baldur’s Gate.

Supercell has stopped developing another game. She announced the closure of Floodrush three months after the launch of limited beta testing.

Studio Vela Games, founded by immigrants from Electronic Arts and Riot Games, also held layoffs. As the Irish Examiner writes with reference to the Financial Services Union, there are less than 20 people left in the studio.

BioWare has announced a team restructuring, which includes job cuts. Although the studio ensures that this move won’t affect the development of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, some of its most experienced devs have been laid off.

Among those who fell under the reduction in BioWare was Mary Kirby, a screenwriter who has worked in the studio since 2006.

On August 23, BioWare CEO Gary McKay announced the reorganization of the studio. As part of it, 50 people will leave BioWare.

Developers of anti-tamper solution Denuvo have announced a new feature that would prevent users from manipulating files in games made with Unreal Engine. Branded as another way of fighting against pirates and fraudsters, it poses a real threat to modding.

Market intelligence platform InvestGame has shared a new report on deal activity in the games industry for the first half of 2023. Here are the key findings about the turbulent and generally deteriorating landscape.

The Chinese company NetEase has announced the opening of a studio in the USA — T-Minus Zero Entertainment. The new team was headed by an industry veteran with 26 years of experience, Rich Vogel.

Larian Studios has corrected the titles of Baldur’s Gate 3. She added localizers from the Altagram Group outsourcing studio, who complained a week ago that only team leaders got into the credits.

The credits of Baldur’s Gate 3 did not include ordinary localizers from Altagram Group, an outsourcing studio that worked on translating subtitles for the game into several languages. Only the team leaders got there.

Polish Acid Wizard Studio is going to take a break. The studio announced that after the release of patch 1.4. for the horror Darkwood, it will close for a while.

There is one less gaming company in Russia. On July 31, Black Caviar Games, which was developing and publishing mobile games, announced its closure.

32 employees of Striking Distance Studios, which developed the horror The Callisto Protocol, have been cut. They were fired after Striking Distance Studios and its parent company KRAFTON reviewed the studio’s priorities.

Hyper-casual publisher Popcore Games, which is part of the Take-Two family, has reduced staff. The dismissals were reported by MobileGamer portal with reference to the posts of former employees on social networks.