HR / Company news

Valnet, the owner of The Gamer and Game Rant, has acquired Polygon, a website focusing on video games and pop culture. Following the acquisition, several veteran staff members have announced their departures, either due to being laid off or opting to leave.

On the evening of April 29, Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier reported on massive layoffs at Electronic Arts (EA). According to his information, the company decided to cut between 300 and 400 employees

Meta has eliminated an undetermined number of positions within its Reality Labs division, impacting teams at Oculus Studios.

The Strong National Museum of Play in New York received a gift from the employees of the now-closed studio Volition. Its collection has been enriched with a large archive of materials related to the development of Saints Row, Red Faction, and many other games from the team

Meta Corporation is reducing the staff of its Reality Labs division, which works on mixed reality technologies. The company stated that this is being done as part of the department's restructuring to enhance its efficiency.

As per Mobilegamer.biz's report on April 16, 2025, the layoffs were anticipated and impacted Niantic's Spatial division instead of its gaming sector. Scopely stated, "it will not be making any workforce reductions as part of our acquisition of Niantic’s games business."

Gamurs Group, the media organization responsible for platforms such as Dot Esports, Twinfinite, Prima Games, Siliconera, and The Escapist, is said to have implemented further layoffs toward the end of last week

In Japan, Sony and Bandai Namco have decided to eliminate employee bonuses as a move to increase base salaries.

The ZeniMax testers' union may go on strike against Microsoft. The group held a vote on the matter, and the proposal to organize a protest was approved by 94% of the members of ZeniMax Workers United.

Eidos-Montréal is the third subsidiary of Embracer Group in the past month to announce mass layoffs. As part of the layoffs, 75 employees will be leaving the company

PLAION (formerly Koch Media) is a subsidiary of the Embracer Group holding, which in turn owns Warhorse Studios, Deep Silver, Prime Matter, and several other gaming teams. It has officially announced the decision to conduct layoffs

Niantic is also laying off part of its staff. It is doing so amidst restructuring following the sale of Pokémon GO and its other games to the mobile publisher Scopely.

Even after the completion of restructuring at Embracer Group, the holding's subsidiary studios continue to lose staff. Crystal Dynamics announced that it has decided to reduce its workforce.

The Chinese company Bilibili has canceled an unannounced AAA game under the codename Codename: UE after two years of development, reports the portal GameLook. Now the project's team faces mass layoffs

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced the formation of an association for all employees in the gaming industry, regardless of their company affiliation.

The Polish studio The Farm 51 announced layoffs. It decided to reduce its staff following the weak debut of the action RPG Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone

The development studio Glera Games is experiencing a series of layoffs. According to sources familiar with the situation, as reported by App2Top, the company has let go of several dozen employees in the past two months alone. In several instances, the process was reportedly unethical

Ksenia Pirogova, head of Training and Development at Nexters, shared a case on handling training requests within the company in her column for App2Top

The studio Ballistic Moon, which developed the remake of Until Dawn, is "virtually closed," according to sources from Insider Gaming. The portal reports that there are almost no employees left in the company.

Kotaku reports that PlayStation Studios Visual Arts is experiencing layoffs. According to its sources, for some of the studio's employees, their last working day will be March 7.

Krafton has announced that Striking Distance Studios, the developer behind Callisto Protocol, has faced additional layoffs.

In 2024, Unity conducted the largest layoffs in its history, parting with 25% of its employees as part of a restructuring. In a recent report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company disclosed the costs incurred in connection with this

At the end of 2024, Supercell acquired the British studio Space Ape. Even back then, the company had announced its intention to transform it from an independent team into one of its branches. Now it has happened — Space Ape has officially become Supercell London

Bossa Games has experienced a further series of layoffs, impacting an undisclosed number of employees

Sony has decided to close the PlayStation branch in Poland, according to Polish media citing sources. Recently, it laid off at least some of its employees, including senior executives

Sony has responded to allegations that it damaged the reputation of former Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett. The company asserts that its investigations revealed "consistent" misconduct, where Barrett allegedly targeted a "lower-level, female employee he wasn't working with directly." The interactions reportedly began as friendly conversations and gradually escalated, with Barrett "often referencing his wealth and his ability to advance their careers."

The free-to-play game Marvel Rivals has attracted more than 40 million players and has "secured the No. 1 position on Steam's top sellers."

Sony Corporation responded to a lawsuit filed by former Marathon game director Christopher Barrett against them and Bungie in December of last year. In the complaint, the developer claimed that he was terminated to avoid paying him the $45 million owed in compensation.

NetEase Games has verified that layoffs have taken place at a U.S. support studio responsible for Marvel Rivals.

The Marvel Rivals team has lost several developers. The Chinese giant NetEase conducted layoffs at the studio in Seattle, dismissing all employees working on the game.

Liquid Swords is a Swedish studio founded in 2020 by Christofer Sundberg, the co-founder of Avalanche Studios and the creator of Just Cause. Recently, the studio has begun layoffs

Liquid Swords, a studio supported by NetEase, has announced a series of layoffs, describing the job reductions as "deeply regrettable" but essential for "the studio's long-term sustainability"

Reports indicate that Funko Fusion developer 10:10 has experienced layoffs, impacting approximately 20 employees

Another company is conducting layoffs. Crytek announced that the difficult situation in the gaming industry has forced it to part with 15% of its staff.

According to the 80 Level portal, Unity has experienced a wave of layoffs. This affected both the technical and advertising departments.

According to reports, Unity has initiated another series of layoffs

Hi-Rez Studios, the developer behind Smite, has experienced another wave of layoffs, resulting in the termination of at least 20 employees' positions

Reports indicate that 2K has dismissed Michael Condrey, the president of 31st Union.

The Australian studio Mighty Kingdom announced a restructuring. As part of this, some employees will be laid off

Mobile game developer Belka Games became the most generous employer in Lithuania among IT companies with Belarusian roots as of December 2024, according to journalists from dev.by who examined data from the Rekvizitai service.

Two weeks ago, it became known that Sony had canceled live-service games from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. As noted by the portal Game Developer, following this, Bend Studio decided to part ways with the vast majority of its freelance staff.

On January 29, BioWare's General Manager Gary McKay announced internal changes. According to him, the studio has decided to focus on developing a single project instead of multiple ones — the next title in the Mass Effect franchise.

Capcom has announced its financial performance for the nine months concluding on December 31, 2024, showing that both net sales and operating income aligned with its fiscal strategy. This outcome comes despite a 16.3 percent decline in net sales compared to the previous year, totaling ¥88.9 billion ($572.7 million), along with a 33% decrease in net income.

Recently, it became known that in December 2024, Starbreeze conducted a small round of layoffs, parting with fewer than ten employees. According to 80 Level, this is just the tip of the iceberg — in recent months, the Swedish company has been actively reducing its staff.

Reports indicate that Moon Active has dismissed at least 20 employees, with the majority coming from its office in Lithuania. However, workers in Poland, Armenia, Ukraine, Türkiye, and Israel have also been affected.

Phoenix Labs has announced another round of layoffs—the fourth since May 2023. This time, the company has decided to part ways with the majority of its staff.

Ubisoft has announced the closure of its division in Leamington. Ubisoft Leamington was originally known as FreeStyleGames and in recent years has operated as a support studio, assisting with the development of Star Wars Outlaws, Skull and Bones, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Far Cry 5, and other games

As reported by the news media outlet App2Top, last week over 20 employees from Moon Active simultaneously announced they were seeking new jobs on LinkedIn

As of January 2025, the UK games industry has experienced an 8% decline in available job openings, bringing the total to 696 positions.

The Canadian studio Reflector Entertainment has acknowledged that the adventure action game Unknown 9: Awakening was a failure. They have decided to cancel the next game in this universe and downsize the staff.