HR / Company news

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.

Swedish gaming company Enad Global 7 (EG7) took steps last week to "wind down" Toadman Interactive and also dismissed 38 staff members from Piranha Games.

The Swedish holding company Enad Global 7 (EG7) continues to reduce its teams. The new cuts will affect two of its subsidiary studios: Toadman Interactive and Piranha Games.

As the year draws to an end, GamesIndustry.biz has been showcasing videos from the HR Summit held in London in September.

GamesIndustry.biz is highlighting key sessions from September's HR Summit as the year concludes, with a standout session featuring a panel discussion between UK studios Rare and Dlala.

If you couldn't attend the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit in London this September, don't worry. All the top sessions are now accessible online

Three months after the successful GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit, we are now offering access to some of our standout sessions from the event for online viewing.

Three months after the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit, we are now releasing some of the top sessions from the event

Former and current employees of the gaming platform GOG spoke to the Polish publication CD Action about the working environment in their division. They claim that CD PROJEKT regularly conducts large-scale layoffs at GOG every two to three years, with the most recent occurring two months ago

In 2024, the video game industry in Australia reported revenues amounting to $339.1 million AUD, equivalent to $211.9 million USD

The Polish company 11 bit studios has decided to cancel the game codenamed Project 8. They had warned about the likelihood of this outcome last week when they started auditing the project.

In the past year, gaming companies from California have been particularly active in conducting layoffs. Journalist Stephen Totilo, in his Game File newsletter, noted that this state was responsible for about a third of all gaming industry personnel reductions in 2024

Last month, it was revealed that Sony is in talks to acquire Kadokawa, a Japanese media conglomerate whose subsidiaries include FromSoftware. Bunshun reported that employees at Kadokawa are hopeful for a successful outcome of the deal.

The Polish game development company, People Can Fly, has revealed additional layoffs impacting over 120 employees

The Polish company People Can Fly has decided to focus more on developing games in partnership with other companies. Examples include Project Gemini, which they are working on with Square Enix, and Project Maverick, being developed with the support of Microsoft.

Enish is a Japanese mobile studio known for games like De:Lithe Last Memories and Attack on Titan: Brave Order. They decided to give employees an unpleasant New Year's surprise by reducing part of their staff