Don't Nod to lay off up to 69 employees, also writing off €24 million for Jusant and Banishers

Don’t Nod has released its financial report for the first half of 2024. In addition to sharing key business metrics, the French company announced job cuts as part of its ongoing restructuring.

Jusant

Financial highlights

• According to its half-year results, Don’t Nod’s revenue for the latest six-month period amounted to €1.87 million — down 29.7% year-over-year.
• Consolidated net loss mounted to €42.3 million, compared to €866k in H1 2023. This is a result of the underperformance of some of the recent releases and portfolio reevaluation.
• The company announced a partial write-down of €24 million for Jusant and Banishers: Ghost of New Eden, which both underperformed commercially. “[Their] estimated future sales, in a particularly saturated market, are unlikely to generate sufficient revenues to cover all the development costs capitalized for these two games,” the statement reads.
• In addition, Don’t Nod paused work on two new games, resulting in a write-down of €7.6 million, as well as canceled another project in development.
• The development of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage and projects codenamed P10 & P14 will continue.
• The publisher also applied to Euronext to resume trading of its shares after halting it earlier in the day. The decision was likely made ahead of a new reorganization plan announced in the latest financial report.

Restructuring and cost-cutting program

• In March, Don’t Nod announced its decision to split its business into three branches, each focused on the specific genre: action RPG, action adventure, and narrative adventure. The company planned to “consolidate its expertise in the development of AA+ games.”
• CEO Oskar Guilbert today stated that these measures “no longer seem sufficient to maintain the company’s competitiveness.”
• That’s why the company has now started a “reorganization project” aimed at safeguarding its competitiveness “in an increasingly demanding and competitive ecosystem.”
• This process includes layoffs, with Don’t Nod saying it could cut up to 69 jobs in France. As of March, the company employed around 350 people, meaning the new cost-cutting measures could affect up to 19.7% of its total workforce.
• As part of its restructuring project, Don’t Nod plans to reevaluate its portfolio, make its internal processes more agile, “strengthen the role of the editorial committee to better meet market expectations,” and secure its further financing.