Media: 1C Entertainment is cutting staff and leaving Russia under pressure from Tencent. REFUTATION: the situation does not correspond to reality

The network has information about possible cuts in 1C Entertainment due to the geopolitical situation. The decision to stop working in the country was made recently by the company that owns Tencent. update: The CEO of 1C Entertainment issued a rebuttal.

Kingʼs Bounty 2UPDATED:

After the publication of the material, Nikolay Baryshnikov, CEO of 1C Entertainment, contacted us. He stated that the data is not reliable. Here is his entire letter:

Good afternoon! Unfortunately, the information in this article is not reliable. The management of 1C Entertainment decided to close two projects – SDP and Kings Bounty 2 due to the fact that these games did not reach the planned indicators. Work continues on porting Kings Bounty 2 to the latest generation console. Employees are invited to switch to other projects, including new ones that have not yet been announced, as well as games that we are developing in cooperation with a number of international publishers. The company continues to work normally on several dozen new games, there is no connection with the “relocation” or “termination of activity in the Russian Federation”. ORIGINAL:

The cuts were simultaneously reported by three Russian entertainment publications — Kanobu, Igromania and Championship — with reference to internal sources close to 1C Entertainment. The information differs somewhat depending on the media. The content common to all sources is as follows: 1C Entertainment reduces the development teams of King’s Bounty and Soul Dance Party games.

“Kanobu” also writes that:

• the decision was made by Tencent, which has recently owned part of 1C gaming assets;
• they decided to make cuts due to the fact that there were difficulties with the relocation of the team;
• The withdrawal from Russia is due to a special operation conducted by the country in Ukraine.

Igromania writes that:

• the main criterion for dismissal is whether or not an employee is ready to move to another country;
• as a country for relocation, the management suggests Poland first of all.

“Championship” informs that:

• some of the employees were dismissed without an offer to relocate;
• employees were paid the required allowance;
• some of the personnel are still working in Russia.

1C Entertainment is one of the old—timers of the Russian video game market. Now officially it is a Polish company registered in Warsaw, which, in addition to several Russian development studios, included assets such as Cenega, Muve, Qloc and 1C Online Games. In November, it was acquired by Tencent.

Important: 1C Game Studios, responsible for the IL-2 Stormtrooper series and the tactical shooter Kalibr, remained behind 1C. They have not joined the Chinese concern and, as we assume, are not moving anywhere yet.